


Pokemon Love From Different Regions (AshxOCF)

by puppuphk



Series: AshxHarmony [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Ash is 15, Brock is 18, Dawn is 13, F/M, Galar - Freeform, OC is from Galar, Pre-Pokemon Sword and Shield, Shiny Pokemon, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 77,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23870188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppuphk/pseuds/puppuphk
Summary: Harmony Sword grew up in Postwick in the Galar region, once she loses in the gym challenge there she goes to other regions. Eventually getting the love of coordinating she heads to Sinnoh region where she meets Ash Ketchum. Their journey they learn a lot about each other and develop feelings for one another.
Relationships: Pikachu/Original Pikachu, Pikachu/Pikachu (Pokemon), Satoshi | Ash Ketchum/Original Female Character(s)
Series: AshxHarmony [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779421
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Following A Maiden's Voyage! and Two Degrees of Separation!

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't done this in a while, wow, but I've been wanting to write and Ashxoc for a while and I'm now just getting on it.

"Mum I'm fine, I got to Sinnoh just fine. Right Chu?" Harmony says to her mother through her blue Rotom phone in the airport. A female Pikachu, who had a bright pink bow on her tail sitting on her shoulder. "We're supposed to head to meet up with Professor Rowan, at least that's what Professor Magnolia told me to meet with as soon as I got here." She explains.

"I know sweetie, it's just she only visited a week before taking off again. I still wished she would have stayed longer." (Y/m) says to her. "At least call more often? And I will be on stand by if you want any of your team. Seeing as you only have Pikachu, Hatterene, and Cinderace on her."

"Of course I will Mum. Now I got to go, I don't want to keep Professor Rowan waiting too long to deliver what Magnolia wants me to deliver. Then I have to register for the league and contests." she tells her. "I love you! I'll let she know what I catch here in Sinnoh bye!" she said as Rotom ends the call before slipping itself back into her pocket. 

"Well Chu, let's get going. I'm sure it's got to be this way." Harmony says as they make their way out and onto the road.

Harmony Sword, a 15-year-old Pokemon Trainer, originally from Postwick in the Galar region. Her wavy auburn hair falls to the middle of her back, and freckles adore her face, where they show off her green eyes. The usual outfit she wears is leggings with a blue skirt where a belt rests against it her Pokeballs attached and a form-fitted top with ruffles along with it. She has competed in leagues all over, starting in Galar. She then went to Hoenn and Johto wanting to compete in contests narrowly making it to the top four in Hoenn three years ago, and winning the Johto Grand Festival. On top of that, she has competed in the Hoenn Johto, and Kanto leagues getting into the top 4 all three times. Now on her way to enter the Sinnoh League, determined to win this time and compete in Contests she makes her way deeper into the city.

It was only twenty minutes later when they reached the port of the town, seeing the ships along the coast, that calmness was quickly taken away as Harmony heard yelling coming from a sheng teen around her age (15) with black spikey hair under a baseball cap and brown eyes yelling to some weirdos in a Meowth balloon. 

“Pikachu!? Who did that?” the boy called out, “I can’t believe they’re here!” he called out running after them, “Come back! Bring Pikachu back!” he yells. However, something wrong must have happened within the balloon because it soon blew up it a fit of smoke, and a faint “We’re blasting off again” was heard in the distance. 

Quickly as that happened she took off after the kid, “Hey wait! Are you okay? Do she want me to try and find Officer Jenny?” she asks as Chu her Pikachu lets out an unhappy “Pika” feeling sorry for the kid losing his own Pikachu.

“Oh, no that’s fine, Pikachu has to be around here somewhere.” the kid says with a sigh, “Why do they always follow us, hey Aipom can she check the trees?” he calls out to his pokemon.

“Woah! What’s that Pokemon?” she calls out having not seen one before, even in her trips to Johto she hadn’t seen one. Her Rotom phone flies out to quickly scan it.  
Aipom is a monkey-like Pokémon with a three-fingered hand at the end of its tail. its powerful tail freely and cleverly for many purposes. The tail is strong enough to anchor Aipom to a branch and suspend the rest of its body in the air, but also delicate enough to pick fruit and manipulate objects.

“You’ve never seen an Aipom before? What’s that she got there is it a Pokedex? Where are you from?” he questions her.

“This is my Rotom dex, he’s a phone and a Pokedex, he’s got the national dex on him so that I can figure out all pokemon. I’m Harmony Sword, and I’m from the Galar region, this is one of my partners Chu, she doesn’t prefer her Pokeball all that much. I’m wanting to win the Sinnoh league and hopefully win the Grand Festival as I did back in Johto. I’ve never seen one up close, they aren’t native to Galar at all,” she explains.

“Huh cool, the Garlar region, I’ve never heard of it. Anyway, I’m Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in the Kanto region and am training to be a Pokemon Master. Do she want to try and help find Pikachu with me?” Ash asks.

Harmony thinks for a second as Chu tugs her hair with a look of wanting to help, “Alright we’ll help, we’re going this way anyway to find Professor Rowan to deliver some research from Professor Magnolia. How about I let some of my pokemon help?” she offer earning a nod as Ash turns to look up where Aipom had climbed up a tree. “Hey, Aipom did she seen any signs of Team Rocket’s balloon up there?”

“Hatters come out and help!” she calls out letting her Hatterene out to see if she’d be able to try and use her psychic ability to sense Pikachu anywhere, while Chu tries with her electricity. 

“Oh man,” she hears Ash sigh out.

“Don’t worry we’ll find your Pikachu, it’ll just take some time. He couldn’t have gotten that far, I just hope that Team Rocket you called them? That they aren’t anywhere near your Pikachu.” Harmony tells him. 

“Yeah, when you want to find those guys they always disappear,” he says sadly, as you move on down the path. “I just sure hope Pikachu’s okay,” he tells Harmony and his Aipom. 

It wasn’t long before Ash seemed to get really mopey and we stopped to take a break from all of their searching. Harmony had returned Hatterene and was about to ask Ash something when she heard the sound of a motorcycle and turned around to look.

“Oh, look Ash it’s Officer Jenny! Maybe she can help!” Harmony says shaking his shoulder as Jenny came to a stop.  
“Hello, everything alright over there?” Jenny asks with concern.

“Not exactly.” Ash and Harmony say at the same time, “You see…” both of them start explaining what was going on and once she understood the issue she offered to drive the two.

“So Team Rocket’s in Sinnoh huh?”

“Yeah, and I’ve got to find those crooks quick because they took my Pikachu,” Ash explains as Harmony tries to keep herself behind Jenny, that being the only spot available as Ash was in the side-car.

“Ash, Harmony Sinnoh’s a big place instead of wandering around trying to find them all by yourself why don’t you leave that to me? And I’ll take you to Professor Rowan’s lab where you can say hello.” Jenny explains.

“Actually that is really where I needed to go so that works really well for me, and I’m sure if someone does find Pikachu they will figure out who’s it is by taking him to a pokemon center, even without a ball there usually is a way to figure it out,” Harmony says trying to reassure Ash.

Once Jenny dropped them off they quickly met with Professor Rowan.

“So you’re Ash from Pallet Town, Professor Oak said a great deal about you. He sent your Aipom’s Pokeball for you and it just arrived.” Professor Rowan says as he hands Ash the Pokeball.

“As for you Harmony Sword, I have heard quite a bit from Professor Magnolia and believe you have some research for me?” he says and Harmony grins getting the folder out from her bag, “Yup it’s all here, even has the flash drive with all more info on it along with some of the hard to get research books, all the way from old Galarian texts with the translations too.”

“Good that is really helpful, I do have something she requested for you,” he says turning to pull another Pokeball out of his lab coat. “Professor Magnolia said you tend to prefer water and electric types, so she figured that you’d appreciate having one of the water starters from here.” he tells her making her eyes sparkle.

“You’re giving me a Piplup?” she says bouncing on the back of her feet in excitement. 

“Yes, this one was getting picked on a shoved by other pokemon due to its unique coloring and I figured with how much praise Magnolia was saying about you with pokemon that are being mistreated out in the wild, that he’d be a perfect fit.”

“Thank you so much, Professor Rowan!” Harmony says happily as Ash thanked him too for giving him Aipom’s Pokeball.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about Pikachu Ash, I heard from one of my new trainers that this morning she protected a lost Pikachu from a strange group of thieves who called themselves ‘Team Rocket’”

“You’re kidding!?” Ash and Harmony call out with Aipomand Chu yelling out in excitement.

Ash was quick to wanting to find out, so Professor Rowan set it up so he could call the Pokemon Center that Dawn was supposed to be at. Unfortunately, it was Nurse Joy who answered.

“Oh, Dawn? I’m sorry but she left the Pokemon Center just a little bit before you called.” Nurse Joy apologizes.

“Did she say where she was going Nurse Joy?” Ash asks hopefully.

“Not in so many words. She said she had to find Pikachu’s trainer fast.” Nurse Joy explains causing Ash to quickly grab Harmony’s hand and tugs her out of Rowan’s lab fast.

“Wait! Where are you two going?” Rowan calls out to Ash and Harmony.

“We’ve got to find Dawn and I know the Pokemon Center is close by right? So that means she’s got to be close by too! Come on Aipom, Harmony let’s hit it!” Ash yells out as they race away from the lab.

The two trainers and their pokemon were running along route 202 trying to get as fast as they could to find Dawn when a truck passed them by and honked making Ash slow down with Harmony nearly bumping into him for slowing down.

“Ash!” an older teen (18) stepped out, he had spikey brown hair and a darker complexion geared up with a huge backpack.

“Hey, Brock!” Ash calls out with a grin on his face, as he rushes towards him with Harmony following curiously behind him.  
“I guess great minds think alike” Brock comments.

“Great to see you but what are you doing here?” Ash asks.

“Either you guys know each other or you’re too friendly Brock!” The truck driver lady says.

“This is my old buddy Ash, he and I have been traveling together for a long time,” Brock explains.

“The names Claudina and in case you haven’t noticed I’m the proud driver of this big rig,” Claudina explains, her purple hair tied up in a high ponytail. 

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Ash and Harmony say politely. 

“Yeah Claudina and I are on the road. The road to happiness and true love” Brock says getting all happy with a dopey smile on his face and grabbing Ash by the shoulder and tugging him to his side making Ash give him a confused and funny look.

“Yeah, but in a truck?” he asks confusingly.

“Ash it’s a long and complicated journey when you want to be the very best. I was hitchhiking from Pewter City when we hooked up It was fate!” Brock says all lovey-dovey as he pokes Ash’s cheek making Ash push him off disturbingly.

“Woah!” Ash says as Brock tugs him back placing his hands on the younger teen shoulders, “It’s been great seeing you pal and best of luck in everything you do…” Brock says just as Claudina’s phone starts to ring making her pick it up.

“Hi, there honey! I’ve been waiting to hear your sweet voice to calling” she says making Brock seem to snap out of his love-Dovey phase and freak out.

“HONEY!?” Brock yells out.

“Sure I’ll be right there just as soon as these 18-wheels can carry me.” she says before putting her phone away, “I’m sorry for the interruption Brock, but that was my boyfriend on the horn and I’m gonna have to hightail it over and meet him quicker than a volt tackle,” she says before winking making Brock whimper, “But I know you’ll all be fine, after all, you got your bud, and his girlfriend, why don’t you three mosey along,” she says before shutting the door.

“See ya later Brock and thanks again for the great lunch and dinner,” Claudina says waving and driving off. 

“Is Brock gonna be okay?” Harmony says softly to Ash, both his and her cheeks slightly red because of what Claudina’s remark about them being a couple. 

No sooner than Harmony asking did Brock let out a yell before crying, “Alright Ash, a man’s gotta do what a mans gotta do and these two men are gonna do it without a woman at their sides.” making Harmony scoff.

“Uh hello aren’t I considered a woman?” she says with a huff, while Brock turns to her in slight confusion having not paid attention to her at all. 

“Huh, I didn’t see you, who are you?” Brock asks, “Also where’s Pikachu Ash?”

“I’m Harmony Sword, from the Galar region, Postwick to be exact, and that is why we were running,” she explains as Ash’s face falls and starts to go on explaining it in detail as they continued their walk.

“That Team Rocket just won’t quit will they?” he asks shaking his head while Ash looks at the Map, Harmony walking beside Ash.

“Here it is, there’s a Pokemon Center up ahead where that girl took Pikachu.”

“Dawn, Ash her name is Dawn.” Harmony reminds him nudging his side, “It’s rude to call her ‘that girl’ even if we don’t know her.”

“Right, Dawn took Pikachu to that Pokemon Center.” Ash corrects him, “So with that, we can see if Nurse Joy knows which way she went.” he explains and Brock gets a weird look on his face making Harmony jump slightly.

“When it comes to Nurse Joy leave it to me,” Brock says.

“Does he get this way with all women?” Harmony whispers to Ash, watching Aipom swing through the trees up ahead only to ram into some bird Pokemon obviously upsetting it.

“Knock it off Aipom! This is no time for you to be picking a fight! Stop!” Ash calls out running faster with Harmony and Brock.

“Hey who’s that Pokemon?” Brock asks causing Ash to bring out his Pokedex and Harmony’s Rotom to fly out of her pocket.

In sync the two Pokedex’s state: Starly the Starling pokemon. Starly normally travels in a flock but when alone it is hard to notice.

“A normal-flying type. Alright!” he says excitedly putting his Pokedex back in his pocket while Harmony does it itself.

“That’s a weird Pokedex you’ve got there Harmony.” Brock says before turning to Ash, “Maybe you should catch it.”

“It’s a Rotom-phone...it has a Pokedex built-in, and it has a mind of its own, it loves telling facts about Pokemon.” Harmony explains.

“I think so too, that way we can look for Pikachu from the air,” Ash says as he fishes out a Pokeball. “Aipom I want to catch that Starly! So I need your help!” he calls out earning Aipom’s attention.

“Aipom use swift!” Ash calls out while Harmony and Brock watch. The swift quickly hits Starly causing a mini-explosion and smoke to appear around it only to be blow away by a whirlwind, a strong one.

“That’s whirlwind and a really strong one too!” Brock calls out.

“Aipom hang in there and use focus punch!” he says as Aipom charges up the attack only for the Starly to use Quick Attack, which Ash notices, “Aipo Starley’s coming in with a Quick Attack!” he calls out to his pokemon.

Not able to dodge Aipom gets hit and further gets hit with a wing attack, “I know you can do it Aipom!” Ash calls out, which gives Aipom the boost it needed to land the focus blast.

“That’s awesome!” Harmony cheers with Chu cheering on Aipom.

“That’s more like it!” Brock calls out.

“Go Pokeball!” Ash yells out as he spins the ball in the air, it hitting Starly on the forehead and catches it, the Pokeball shaking a bit before dinging that it had been caught. Ash moved to pick up the ball, “Awesome we did it Aipom!” Ash cheers, before doing a pose, “Alright I caught a Starly!” he says before frowning unhappily. 

“What’s wrong?” Harmony asks him, “Aren’t you happy you caught a new teammate?” she asks with a frown her brows furrowing in confusion.

“You know Harmony, Brock...when something like this happens Pikachu’s usually here with me,” he says sadly.

Harmony and Brock both place their hand on each of Ash’s shoulders. “I know but don’t forget the reason why you caught Starly is to help find Pikachu,” Brock explains cheering Ash up a bit.

“You’re right,” he says before tossing the ball “Starly come on out! We need your help finding Pikachu from the air.” he explains as the three teens start running again along route 202.


	2. When Pokémon Worlds Collide!

With Ash’s newly caught Starly the three trainers started running at a better running pace, getting a better visual from higher up. It wasn’t long before Starly finally spotted something.

“Brock, Harmony, you hear that?” Ash says as the three slowly come to a stop.

“Starly spotted something,” Brock says.

“Which hopefully is a good sign?” Harmony says hopefully only to be interrupted by a huge electrical surge up ahead.

“Check it out,” Ash says in awe.

“That was some electric attack,” Brock says as Aipom jumps on Ash’s shoulder.

“Pikachu!” Ash yells out quickly follow after Starly with Harmony and Brock on his heels.

In the distance, another trainer with an Elekid, which seemed to be the one letting off the electricity throws a Pokeball at Ash’s Starly only failing to catch it.

“Starly over here!” Ash calls out to his pokemon, the Starly chirping and landing on his shoulder.

“I’ll thank you and your Starly to stay out of my way,” the other trainer says bitterly.

“I didn’t know anyone was out here but us, really,” Ash says as Harmony and Brock finally catch up. 

“Aww, so not Pikachu, just an Elekid, a strong one at that,” Harmony says eyeing the electric type.

“Anyway, I’ve got a question for you, uh you haven’t seen a girl with a Pikachu around here have you?” Ash asks the teen.

“No. You really think that Starly’s good enough?” the teen questions Ash making Harmony frown and Ash to let out a confused ‘huh’

“I watched you catch it, don’t you think you’d be far better off catching the best one you can?” the teen mutters.

“You can tell which one is the strongest?” Ash says almost with hostility. 

“Of course, look.” the teen says tossing three Pokeballs into the air releasing three Starly.

“You’ve got three of them?” Ash questions confused.

“You must know you can scan the Pokemon you catch with your Pokedex to check out what moves they know and that’s just what I do.” the other teen says and proceeds to scan all three Starly. “I figure if you do that from the beginning it save you a whole bunch of grief in the long run.”

“Stat wise Ash’s might not be the best, but sometimes bonds are far better than stats, it depends. I have a few hyper-trained Pokemon at home, but breeders looking for good IVs tend to be picky,” she says with a shrug, “As for moves, well unless you’re looking for egg moves the wild Starly tend to have the same, some might just be higher levels and know another move.” she points out.

The teen seems to roll his eyes before focusing on the Pokedex once more, “Kay, let’s check out, Ariel Ace, and the big winner is…” he says as he returns all three only pocketing one before releasing the other two with “Take a hike, I don’t need you.” 

“That’s a sure weird way to treat Pokemon,” Ash says still confused why someone would do that.

“Hey the only attacks those two knew were tackle and sand attack, so they wouldn’t be much use anyway.”

“Know what I think? Any Pokemon can be strong if you train them.” Ash says which seems to make the other teen scoff and laugh. “What are you laughing at?” Ash says getting angrier by the second.

“You’ll find out. So wanna battle?” the teen asks.

“Sure let’s do it!” Ash says not thinking about anything else making Harmony sweatdrop.

“We should really be finding Pikachu, not battling,” Harmony says with a sigh, Chu her Pikachu agreeing with a ‘Pika’

“We’ll use three Pokemon,” the teen says making Ash wince as he only had two at that time, withy Pikachu still missing.

“Three on three is the best way to see what type of pokemon a trainers good at working with and what kind of balance they’ve got.”

“I know, but I’ve only got two,” Ash says sadly causing Harmony to shake her head.

“You have three, one is missing at the moment, which is what we were doing before we met you,” she says placing her hand on his shoulder trying to cheer Ash up a bit, something not settling right with seeing him sad.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Talk about pathetic. Unless you want to battle?” he says offering Harmony.

Harmony thinks for a second chewing her lower lip, “As much as I’d love to, I have way too strong pokemon on me right now, and haven’t really settled into the region to start battling people just yet. Plus we’re still looking for Ash’s Pikachu, maybe another time.” she says trying to be nicer only to get the teen to scoff.

“Elekid let’s get going.” the teen says to his partner as he turns around and they walk off.

“Well isn’t he a pleasant person.” Harmony says sarcastically, “Don’t mind him Ash, we have to keep looking for Pikachu, maybe we’ll run into him again when you do have Pikachu and you can challenge him then.

Ash lets out a groan of unhappiness “Man I wish Pikachu was here.” he says only for a huge explosion of electricity to come up from aways away in the forest.

“Ash, Harmony, did you hear that too?” Brock says as everyone jumped at the sound.

“That’s a volt tackle!” Harmony and Ash cry out, both o their Pikachu’s must have known it and they quickly rush off.

They quickly got to the scene where Pikachu was in Team Rocket’s grasp in some mecha machine of theirs, and a girl and her Piplup were trying to help.

“Aipom use swift, Starly use whirlwind!” Ash calls out.

“Chu try to ward it off with Electro-Ball!” Harmony calls out letting her Pikachu jump off her shoulder and helps with the attacks.

“Pikachu!” Ash calls out, as they come out from the bushes, Ash’s Pikachu seems to be relieved and calls out to his trainer excitedly with a “Pika Pi!”

The girl and her Piplup glance behind them with a gasp.

Team Rocket from their mech try and shoot an arm at Ash only for Harmony to somehow quick enough grab him by his backpack and tug him back, only to fall down. “Ow! What was that for! You guys are horribly rude!” Harmony yells out with a bit more fury than before helping Ash a bit to get back up.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Ash says with a growl as he charges at the machine.

“Ash don’t do anything crazy!” Brock calls out.

“I think it’s a little late for that Brock!” Harmony says as Team Rocket foolishly comes out from inside the mech.

“This is your lucky day after all.” The woman with the pink hair curled and long says. 

“You get to witness the true brilliance of the new Team Rocket motto.” The guy with blue spikey hair says.

“Do we have to?” Ash says with a groan.

“Listen, is that a voice I hear?”

It's speaking to me loud and clear.

On the wind!

Past the stars!

In your ear!

Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace.

Dashing hope, putting fear in its place.

A rose by any other name is just as sweet.

When everything's worse, our work is complete.

Jessie!

And it's James!

And Meowth, now that's a name!

Putting the do-gooders in their place

we're Team Rocket in your face!

Ta-da

Team Rocket, their pokemon and the mech pose in sync.

“That Meowth can talk? Ooo can I catch it! My Perrserker, she would love him!” Harmony coos out earning an unhappy cry from Meowth.

“No! I will not be caught, not like you, Terpette could ever do that.” Meowth calls out making Harmony narrow her eyes wanting to accept that challenge.

“Aw, man!” Ash says as he quickly races up towards them.

“Well, we left them speechless again,” Meowth says proudly.

“Encore time!” James calls out pressing a button.

“Ash look out!” Harmony cries out, allowing for Ash to somehow dodge and jump against a tree only to grab hold of the mech’s arm closest to Pikachu. 

“I’m coming! Pikachu!” Ash calls out as he scoots up it making Team Rocket freak out while Pikachu cheers him on. While Ash did that James pressed more buttons causing Harmony to worry. 

“Chu think you can cut some o those arms off with an Iron tail?” She asks her pokemon, “Or at least serve as a distraction?” she says earning a nod from her partner that called out something causing the Meowth to gasp.

“Hey! That’s not very nice to say! You know what would be better two Pikachus!” he says grabbing the remote from James earning a gasp from him as he misdirects an arm straight into the stomach of the mech. “Uh-oh….shouldn’t have done that.” Meowth seems to mutter earning a laugh and teasing to come from Chu.

Ash has a conversation with Pikachu as he tries to free him, “Ash hurry I think the mech’s gonna blow!” Harmony calls out, moving to grab Chu into her arms out of worry.

It started to smoke when Brock tugged her down covering his head, “GET DOWN!” the girl, Dawn quickly followed suit with her Piplup doing the same as it blows up sending Team Rocket flying.

“Ash!?” Harmony calls out worried as she quickly moves to the rubble, while Brock calls out for Pikachu, soon she hears a rustle as some of the debris is moved with Ash groaning only to spot Pikachu and the two hug. “Awww, you two are so adorable,” she says softly, her own Pikachu moving to greet him with Aipom and Starly.

“Pikachu you’re okay!” Ash says happily., “Right you haven’t met these two, this is Harmony’s Pikachu, Chu, and Starly who is my very first pokemon here in the Sinnoh and who helped me find you!” Ash says happily

“Pikachu we did it!” Dawn says happily with her Piplup cheering happily.

“You saved my Pikachu thanks so much my names Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and it’s really great to meet you!” Ash greets Dawn.

“Hi I’m Brock!” Brock says.

“And I’m Harmony, from Postwick in the Galar region!” Harmony says, “Of course this is my buddy Chu a Pikachu.” she says as Chu races to jump on her shoulder giving a peace sign to greet Dawn.

“Hi guys, my name is Dawn, this is my partner Piplup!” she says as Ash pulls out his dex having not gotten to since Harmony had yet to take her Piplup out from Professor Rowan, having not had time to do so.

“So that’s a Piplup huh?”

Piplup the penguin Pokemon. It’s very proud and it’s thick tail protects it from the cold.

“I sure hope your Piplup’s okay after that,” Ash says apologetically.

“Thanks but Piplup’s fine! You tell him Piplup!” Dawn says looking down at her partner who confirms it happily.

“Wow aren’t you a tough guy?” Harmony coos at him, making him stand prouder. “And very proud, you’re gonna have your hands full Dawn,” she says as Piplup nods only to get woozy and faint. 

“Ah! Piplup no!” Dawn cries out.

“Obviously somethings wrong big time,” Brock says as he tugs his backpack off and moves to check on Piplup.

“Could be he got hit with an electric attack, he’s not looking paralyzed, I’ve got some hyper potions in my bag if that will help Brock?” Harmony offers to move her own side satchel bag and grabbing one out. “I always have extra because the wild area in Galar is brutal,” she explains.

Brock nods as he takes it spraying it on Piplup “It’s always important for any trainer to always know the condition of their Pokemon.” he slightly scolds Dawn, causing her to fall onto her knees being upset about Piplup.

“I’m sorry Piplup!” she says sadly as he seems to let her know it was okay.

“Now let’s have a look at Pikachu.” Brock says, earning a relieved ‘Pika Pika’ from Pikachu.

“I think a bit of a potion and an Oran berry would do the trick.” Harmony says fishing out a berry from her bag.

“Thanks, Brock, Harmony you two are the best,” he says as Pikachu happily munches down on the berry while Chu seems to want one as she looks up at Harmony with big eyes. 

“Oh alright, you can have one too,” She says.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Once everyone was fully ready to go they continued on Route 202 until they found a payphone when Harmony complained her Rotom phone didn’t have a signal. 

“Why are none of the Regions able to have my phone work outside of city limits.” She says unhappily, “Using a payphone, really?” she bemoans unhappily only to shush when Ash elbows her alerting her that Professor Rowan was on the videophone.

“Well that’s excellent, I can’t tell you how happy I am for you. Everything worked out just perfectly.” Rowan says through the phone.

“Thanks, Professor!” Dawn says happily.

“Of course, by the way, Ash, I just received a package for you from your mother.” Rowans says, “As well as a Pokemon from your mother as well as Harmony.

“From my mom?” Ash asks confused.

“Mum sent over one of my pokemon? Oh, I hope it wasn’t one that was getting into trouble, my Slyveon loves to cause trouble with Mum’s Budews….” she says with a sigh knowing that was probably who it was, “She hates being apart from me and causes trouble knowing she’ll send her to me.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

As the four trainers and their pokemon walked back towards Professor Rowan’s lab they all got talking about what they had done.

“You’ve really competed in that many contests?” Dawn says with wide eyes, “And won them too? That must be you’ve got some cool Pokemon.” 

“Yeah, though it really is my Pokemon who deserve all the credit, they used to play in the wild area in Galar and figure out combo moves, plus I love combining things that don’t make sense like electric moves with water, or fire and water to form things really well. My favorite pairing is Cinder, my Cinderace, and Melody, my Milotic, those two bring a punch.” Harmony explains.

Eventually, they got talking about Brock, “Wow Brock that’s so cool you’re a breeder. I know this has got to be the first time I’ve ever met a real Pokemon breeder ever!”

“Really?” Brock says flattered, “As soon as we get back to the lab I’ll make some special pokemon food that’s perfect for water types,” he says making Piplup cheer and Dawn to laugh.

“You’re a lucky Pokemon Piplup,” Dawn says happily, only to hear a motorcycle up ahead with Officer Jenny on it.

“Oh look it’s Officer Jenny!” Harmony says happily.

“I heard the news!” Officer Jenny yells out.

“Hey, Jenny!” Ash says happily.

“That’s so great! How’s Pikachu?” Jenny asks.

“Fine, thanks again for your help,” Ash says and goes on to say something else only for Brock to jump in all lovey-dovey again towards Jenny making Harmony and Ash sweatdrop.

“Is this going to happen every time there’s a pretty woman?” she asks, “That is not healthy in the slightest, he’s acting worse than Raihan is with girls.” she mutters under her breath as she moves to pull Brock off of Jenny, “Okay Brock time to get going back to Professor Rowans! Thanks so much, Officer Jenny!” she calls out.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Wow! Check out the new clothes!” Ash says as he unboxes his package from his mom. 

“She even put a new backpack in there too,” Brock says. 

“And here is my Pokemon, who was causing trouble!” Harmony says tossing it up revealing her Sylveon who jumped for joy when she saw her trainer her ribbons flying to tangle around her hugging her tightly. “I missed you too my darling but you can’t hold so tight.” Harmony winces when they got too tight.

Sylveon quickly let go in favor of greeting Chu while Ash went to call his mother. When he was done he called everyone in saying he needed to call Professor Oak.

“Oh I can’t wait, I’ve never met him before, he’s really amazing, he used to be champion when he was way younger, and his lectures are incredible.” Harmony gushes, “I used to stay up trying to see them because they were on late at night in Galar when they aired them.” she says hearing a chuckle and her cheeks flush when she noticed that Professor Oak was on the screen making her flinch and elbow Ash, “Why didn’t you tell me before I went on a rant on him!” she whisper-yells at him.

“This is Harmony, she helped me look, and this is Dawn she’s the one who saved Pikachu,” Ash says gesturing to each of the girls when he said their names.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet both of you, and one of you being a brand new trainer.”

“Right, I uh...I hope you don’t mind. You love Pokemon Poetry don’t you?” Dawn says causing Ash, Brock, and Harmony to gasp as if that was what she was excited about and not all his other important Pokemon Professor stuff.

“Yes, I do!” Professor Oak says almost excitedly while the other sweatdrop and Dawn cheers.

“Awesome, does that mean you know all the Pokemon Poets?”

“You don’t get it. He’s a real Pokemon Professor, just like Professor Rowan” Ash tries to explain but it doesn’t get through to Dawn.

“But how come I always see him on TV reading Poems?” Dawn asks which causes Ash to laugh trying to figure out how to explain it.

“Well how come uh…” Ash says as he tries to figure out what to say to that.

“Say perhaps the good professor and I should have a little discussion” Professor Rowan says after coming into the room.

“Well well well, Professor! Say Ash may I speak with him for a moment?” Professor Oak asks Ash.

“Sure!” Ash says as he moves so Professor Rowan can get closer only to scold Professor Oak about his Poetry.

“Those two must go way back.” Brock comments.

“Guess so,” Ash says with a chuckle.

“So what are you three doing here anyway?” Dawn asks.

“I’m wanting to compete in the Sinnoh League and make it to the Grand Festival,” Harmony says as Sylveon lets go of her wrist and heads to the other Pokemon to greet them.

“Hey that’s why I came too, well the Sinnoh League, not the Grand Festival,” Ash says with a chuckle.

“Okay it looks like the closest Gym to Sangam town is in Oreburgh City, Jubilife City is right on the way,” Brock explains causing Dawn to gasp.

“That’s awesome! Can I go too?” Dawn asks, “I want to be the number one contest coordinator and the first contest I want to compete in is in Jubilife City!” Dawn says excitedly.

“That’s great then! I was going to research when the first contest was on the way to the gym, it looks like that makes us rivals Dawn.” Harmony says with a wink. 

“That’s great! You both can come along then, plus it means I get to train more with Harmony if she’ll battle me” Ash says excitedly earning a grin from her.

“Oh, you bet I’ll help train with you, it’ll help our pokemon grow to more than they are now,” Harmony says happily, their pokemon all come over excitedly. “And everyone sees to get along great so that’s a plus!”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

It wasn’t long before everyone was ready to go. Harmony returning Sylveon to her Pokeball while Chu jumped up on her shoulder nuzzling her. 

“Hey we’re all set, let’s go!” Ash says enthusiastically causing Dawn to furrow her brows in confusion.

“Hold on, Harmony, Ash, aren’t you two going to put your Pikachu’s in their Pokeballs?” she asks.

Harmony and Ash shake their heads, “Mine doesn’t prefer it, she’ll go in if she desperately wants to which is rarely at all.” she explains.

“Pikachu hates traveling that way when my shoulder’s much more fun,” Ash says as Pikachu cheers in agreement.

“Wow that’s amazing,” Dawn says intrigued.

“You’ll learn that there are many different pokemon personalities as there are Pokemon.” Professor Rowan says.

“We’ve got to get going now, but thanks for everything you’ve done for us Professor,” Ash explains to the Professor.

“Of course,” Rowan says to Ash and leads the group of four out the door only to be greeted by the teen they met earlier.

“Oh it’s you, I didn’t expect us to see you this quickly, figured we wouldn’t see you until getting to the gym,” Harmony says with a shrug.

“Yes, who are you?” Professor Rowan asks a bit wary of the teen.

“The names Paul and from the looks of things you must be Professor Rowan, I’m waiting for him,” Paul says almost bitterly looking towards Ash.

“Well, at least we got his name now.” Harmony mutters, “Still could use some manners.” she murmurs.

“You’ve got three Pokemon now, wanna battle?” Paul says baiting Ash.

This fires up Pikachu who gets himself ready getting Ash to agree, “Sure, I’m ready, I’m gonna be a Pokemon Master, and to be that is to beat challengers like you!” Ash says as Pikachu jumps off his shoulder and into a battle stance.

Professor Rowan agrees and lets everyone go to his back garden where there was an open space big enough for a Pokemon battle.

The battle didn’t go well for Ash, with Ash’s Starly losing against Paul’s rather quickly, but when it came to Aipom vs Chimchar the winner was clear with Aipom. The final round was Pikachu against Elekid which ended in a tie, but Paul did not seem too pleased and let out a small scoff like a laugh.

“Wow, I guess that means those two are equally as strong,” Dawn says in awe at the tie.

“I thought Pikachu went down first though, Elekid was right behind it but still,” Harmony says softly while Chu jumped off her shoulder to try and check on Ash’s Pikachu with worry. As she sparked her cheeks a bit against his.

“We lost, isn’t that right?” Ash calls out louder to Paul.

“It was called as a tie, so a tie it is,” he says with little emotion before grabbing a Pokeball, the one containing Starly and releasing it into the wild, causing Ash to get upset. And Chu had to quickly jump on his shoulder to avoid being knocked down.

“What’d you do that for!” Ash says angrily.

“There’s a million Starly’s as strong as that one, soon as I run across a stronger one I’ll just grab it,” he says looking away as if disinterested in the conversation at all.

“You’ll just what?” Ash says bearing his teeth.

“Professor, thanks for the use of the field, I appreciate it,” he says not even bothering with Ash anymore and turns to leave which angers Ash even more.

“Come on wait! Let’s battle again Paul!” Ash calls out, causing Harmony to grab his arm.

“He’s not really worth it to get upset about Ash,” she says softly trying to cool him down as Pikachu finally wakes up causing Chu to squeal a bit happier moving to sit in Ash’s arms to give him an electric nuzzle. 

“Well that was quick, usually she takes forever to warm up to other Pikachu, she hates the ones near Turfield if we ran into them, always was quick to shoot the males down and get feisty with females.” Harmony muses, “I’ll have to look into it…” she says pulling her Rotom phone out trying to find anything she could while the two Pikachu’s seemed to distract Ash from Paul.

“Huh, I’ve never seen Pikachu act this way either…,” Ash says confused at how his buddy was reacting cooing and acting almost anew after that quick spark from Chu. 

“I’ll see if Professor Magnolia knows anything. I can’t find anything online.” Harmony says with a groan as she taps away to send off. “And it’s just our luck that it’s late in Galar so she won’t get the email until tomorrow or tonight at the earliest,” she says. “Oh well for now at least Pikachu and Chu get along and seem to be happy, maybe it’s a good thing?” she says.

“Yeah...it’s just strange, we should head out, that way we get to the Pokemon Center to stay in tonight,” Brock says earning a nod approval from everyone and they make their way away from the lab thanking Professor Rowan as they left. 

Who knows what will lead the heroes next time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that chapter was okay! I'm not sure I can keep this up doing daily, I've got finals in 2 weeks so that is the priority and I've got two papers due soon that I need to finish!


	3. Dawn of a New Era

The day when we left to the forest Dawn wanted to try and catch her very first pokemon, but it wasn't going as well as she wanted to and Ash's advice wasn't getting her anywhere.

It was leading the two trainers to argue while Brock and Harmony sat and watched with sweat drops. "At this rate, she'll never catch it, I think Ash needs to just let her figure it out herself." Harmony whispers to Brock just as the Buneary hops away from Dawn.

"Well, I hope you're happy now!"

"Don't look at me!" Ash says and Harmony groans.

"They're gonna be at this all day, oi! You lot stop it! Break it up!" Harmony says having heard enough of it and moved between the two. "Ash, Dawn, calm down, please. Ash, you're putting too much pressure on Dawn. Dawn, you need to let it go if you want Ash's help that's how he's gonna do it, otherwise you'll figure it out yourself."

As the four trainers continued on their way Dawn and Ash kept making snide remarks at each other.

"To think, I would have had a Buneary if it weren't for some big mouth." Dawn snidely remarks.

Pikachu was looking at Ash with a sad expression as his trainer bit into the remark and replied with "Oh yeah, I could get a Buneary in spite of your big mouth."

"Next time butt out!"

"That is if there is a next time." Ash goads on causing Harmony to shake her head.

"I'm catching lots of pokemon"

"You won't if you keep doing stupid stuff"

"Are you calling me stupid!?"

"No, but I'm thinking about it now"

"How can you think without a brain?"

"You tell jokes as good as you catch pokemon!"

"You're both hurting my ears!" Brock cries out frustrated with all the arguing.

"You know if you two are going to do this I don't think I want to travel in a group, arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. I'm sorry Buneary got away Dawn, but there are plenty of them, I'm sure you'll find one again."

It was then a beautiful mist of sparkles was released out into the sky, a Sunny Day move making everyone finally chill.

"That's beautiful." Harmony whispers in awe.

"What's that?" Ash asks.

"Pretty," Dawn says in awe.

"That's Sunny Day." Harmony and Brock say at the same time.

"It's a fire type move. Ire types use it to temporarily raise their power." Brock explains.

"All of a sudden I feel so much happier," Dawn says making Harmony hum in relief.

"No more arguing that's great," Harmony says with a grin as a small pokemon comes in making her squeal.

"Awww a Budew! I love Budew my Mum keeps four in her garden, they're great with plants!" Harmony coos moving to gently pet the pokemon.

"Budew?" Ash asks pulling his Pokedex out.

Budew the bud pokemon. In winter it keeps its bud closed to survive the cold but then opens it again in the spring.

"I wonder if this is where Sunny Day came from?" Brock questions.

"It was, hardened words, but reflect harden hearts let the sunny day soften yours." A man in a green coat and hat on, a Mew harp in his hand as he started playing it, "for when your heart is light your mood is happy and bright. Tell me don't you feel better now?

"Huh? Yeah, you're right." Ash and Dawn say together.

"As it should be"

"Thanks, I'm Ash" Ash explains Pikachu saying out his greeting.

"I'm Harmony." Harmony states Chu hopping off her shoulder to greet the Budew in excitement, she always loved Harmony's Mum's Budew.

"I'm Dawn."

"And I'm Brock."

"And I am the Pokemon Bard, Nando." Nando introduces, "This is my Budew. We travel the world bringing joy to all"

"Awesome," Ash says with a grin.

"You must have a great time," Brock says.

"Hey! I've got it, Ash, now I can show you how strong I've gotten." Dawn says coming up with some idea.

"How?"

"Nando, would you mind battling with me?" Dawn asks.

"If that pleases you," Nando responds.

"Great, this is gonna be fun." Harmony says with a grin, "But Dawn don't you want to do a contest battle? That way you get a feel for it?" she suggests.

"So you are on a quest for the Grand Festival?" Nando questions, "Then a contest battle it shall be. There's a clearing up ahead that will be perfect for our needs."

"Great!" Dawn says getting pumped.

Once they were at the clearing Dawn let her Piplup out, which made Harmony think and let hers out as well.

"Alright, Pip! How about you watch this, it'll be important for you to learn how to do contests and battle, so this will be perfect to watch," she says holding the shiny Piplup in her arms who responded happily. The two had bonded then the night before hence giving the nickname Pip to it.

It wasn't long before Dawn and Nando's battle started with Dawn rushing in with a flying type move only for Nando to evade it. Nando was very calm with his commands and was rather focused.

"Wow, he's great isn't he Chu and Pip?" Harmony says in awe. "Dawn, don't get too distracted! Pay attention to Piplup and try to keep moving!" she calls out.

"It wasn't that strong!" Ash calls out towards Dawn after her failed bubble beam attack.

"And remember this is a contest battle Dawn! Using your opponents moves against them is what it's about, utilizing that move like that would have cost you points!"

With that failure eating at Dawn she ended up losing her focus and lost to Nando, especially after Piplup took a direct solar beam attack.

"Dawn, I wouldn't have guessed this was your first battle, you were so good," Nando compliments Dawn.

"Wow, that's such a nice thing to say, thank you," Dawn says as she gets up with Piplup in her arms.

"You can be sure it was a good experience, those two really know how to battle." Brock compliments.

"Yeah no doubt it'll help you get a lot stronger," Ash says with a grin raising his fist excitedly.

"Yeah,"

"I'm off, best of luck," Nando says turning to walk away.

"Awe man, I can't catch a pokemon and I can't win a battle," Dawn says defeated as the group continued along the path.

"Hey chill out, have a nice dinner, get a good night's sleep, and you'll be fine tomorrow," Ash says.

"Dawn you worry way too much, everyone loses battles, eventually you'll get the hang of it," Harmony says softly putting her hand on Dawn's shoulder.

"Get a good night's sleep? How do you get that without a bed?"

"Hey look there's a Pokemon Center not far from here," Brock says looking down at his map book.

"Really? Hurray! A real bed and a real room! I can join civilization again!" Dawn cheers making Harmony laugh.

"Better not get used to it though, it takes days to get to other towns." Harmony teases, "And seeing stars are nice."

"Alright, Bonsly let's go!" Brock says tossing a Pokeball into the air and catching the pokemon in his arms.

"Awe isn't he cute." Harmony coos out.

"Bonsly we're going to a pokemon center, and you're going to be checked out by Nurse Joy!" Brock says getting lovey-dovey again.

"So that's a Bonsly," Dawn says taking out her pink Pokedex.

Bonsly the bons eye pokemon, being a rock type it can get weak if it's body has too much water so it secretes water from both sides of its body to regulate it.

"So did you bring your other pokemon too?" Ash asks.

"Nope, my brothers and sisters are watching them at home back at the Pewter Gym."

"Wait you're a gym leader?" Harmony questions, "Wait I remember the Pewter Gym, but it wasn't you I battled that's for sure." she says furrowing her brows.

"You were the gym leader in Pewter city! That's awesome!" Dawn says with a grin on her face.

As they walked Brock told stories about the gym to his companions.

At the pokemon center, Brock was being lovey-dovey towards Nurse Joy. "Ah, Nurse Joy!"

"Good evening and Welcome to the Pokemon Center." Nurse Joy says greeting them at the door.

Dawn had a confused look on her face, "Hold on are you from Sandgem Town?"

"Not me, the Nurse Joy from Sandgem Town is my sister." Nurse Joy explains.

"Sister, really?" Dawn says blinking just as Brock shows her a picture of all the Sinnoh Nurse Joy's. "You mean there are that many Nurse Joys?" Dawn says sweat dropping.

"Isn't that great? All Nurse Joys are related! Every gorgeous one!" Brock says turning to look at Nurse Joy lovingly.

"Wow, you like that…" Dawn says sweat dropping.

"And we'll have to go through this every single time." Harmony mutters, "I only there was a way to get him to stop."

"My dear!" Brock says grabbing Nurse Joy's hand and going on his knees with hearts in his eyes, "Although all Nurse Joys are beautiful your beauty stands out."

"But wait Brock was acting the same exact way with Officer Jenny. What's up with that?" Dawn points out.

"He gets that way around both it seems"

"Yeah, that's a question with no answer," Ash states with a small sweatdrop.

Now that they were at a Pokemon Center Dawn decided to let her mom know she was traveling in a group.

"I certainly appreciate you looking after y Dawn I realize of course that she can sometimes be a handful," Johanna says through the video call as Brock, Harmony, and Ash stand behind her.

"Huh?" Dawn says confused.

"Oh no." Brock, Harmony, and Ash say denying it.

"Come on Mom, there's nothing to worry about."

"When you tell me there's nothing to worry about that's when I get worried the most. Don't forget I'm counting on you three." Johanna says making the trio behind Dawn chuckle nervously.

"We won't!"

"Then you all have a great time. Ash, Harmony lots of luck in all your gym battles," she says before the screen goes black.

"My mom, what a mom" Dawn says putting her hands on her hips.

Nurse Joy walks up behind all of them, "Oh Ash, Harmony, by the way, have you two registered for the Sinnoh League, you'll need to…"

Ash and Harmony get a horrified look on their faces, "No! Not yet!" the two cry out.

"Not yet is right," Dawn says

"Otherwise you won't be able to compete." Nurse Joy explains putting in Ash's Pokedex, "Now, let's see here. Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. That's all there is to it. Here." She says handing his Pokedex back to him, "You're all set and ready to roll."

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" Ash says excitedly.

Harmony was worrying more which caused her to bite her lip. "I don't have a Pokedex like Ash does Nurse Joy, I've got a Rotom Phone. It's got my trainer ID and all that on it," she explains as Rotom swiftly flies out of her pocket and brings up said information.

"I meant to figure out how it was done, usually I have to do it manually since most regions don't have more advanced systems like Galar does. I think Kalos is a bit more advanced." Harmony says sheepishly. But Nurse Joy waves her off.

"If you've got everything there it won't take too long, just have to type it in as you said." she says Rotom hovering so Nurse Joy could type it all out. "And all set!"

"Thank you so much!" Harmony says as Rotom lets out a beep letting her know she had an email "Oh Ash I got an email back from Professor Magnolia about Pikachu, though she said she has more on Riachu but it should be similar enough." she says reading through it briefly.

"Can I register for Pokemon Contests here?" Dawn asks making Harmony look up in confusion.

"I thought that was through the Contest hall though?" Harmony says confused.

"Yeah, you need to do that at the Area, you can get contest passes there as well." Nurse Joy explains.

"Great! Thank you!" Dawn says happily.

"Nurse Joy! We're back! Can you take a look at our pokemon?" a young kid with brown hair asks as he and his two friends come in, with a Chimchar, Turtwig, and Prinplup.

"Wow Chimchar, Turtwig, and would you look at that a Prinplup! Doesn't it evolve from Piplup?" Dawn asks as she makes her way over to the trio.

"Right it just evolved yesterday." The girl trainer says.

Dawn pulls out her Pokedex.

Prinplup the penguin pokemon and the evolved form of Piplup. A strike from its fins can be harmful as it searches the oceans for prey.

"Wow," Dawn says in awe.

"Well, Dawn," Nando speaks up from the door of the Pokemon Center.

"Nando! What a surprise!" Dawn calls out causing

"Yes, a pleasant one," Nando says as Nurse Joy moves to bring Budew out.

Harmony turns her head from the guys over to Nando. "Hi, Nando! It's nice to see you again!' she calls out.

"Here you are your Budew is feeling 100%," Nurse Joy says with a smile.

"I am in your debt," Nando says and Dawn starts to talk with him again.

"Are you staying at the center too?" Dawn asks Nando.

"No, there are several things I need to ponder elsewhere. And so, good evening," Nando tells her as he picks Budew up and walks out.

"What's he pondering?" Ash questions.

"Nando divides his interests between gym battles and contests. I think he's trying to decide between the two."

"Yeah? With a strong Budew like he's, he should choose gym battles." Ash says.

"No way! It's contested he sure knew how to show off his Budew!" Dawn counters.

"They gyms the way!"

"He should choose contests!"

Ash and Dawn start arguing again. This made Harmony frown, "Why can't he do both? I always do both, sure it's hard, but that's why we start early enough before the Grand Festival and the League, gives us enough time between the two and as long as you try really well you get to compete in both."

"Maybe we should just let Nando decide himself!" Ash calls out.

"Yeah, maybe we should!" Dawn says the two butting shoulders as they race off to find Nando.

"I'll go follow them, they're gonna get into trouble at this rate," Harmony says with a groan, "Why did I choose to go with all of you again?" she mutters as she walks out following the arguing pair, "Right because Ash is kinda cute and Chu really likes his Pikachu," she mutters.

"Wait for me!" Brock calls out to the group.

"Hmmm, nobody's here," Ash says as it had gotten dark really fast.

"That's weird, wonder where Nando went?" Dawn asks as they look around.

Starly comes in for a landing, landing on a rock in the forest.

"Hey, did you see Nando Starly?" Ash asks his pokemon earning a shake of his head.

"If he was here Starly would have seen him," Brock points out.

"Thanks for looking, Starly return!" Ash says pulling the pokemon back into his ball.

"Sorry Dawn, we're gonna have to camp out here." Ash apologizes, which was not what Dawn was expecting.

"What!? We're not going back to the Pokemon Center?" Dawn asks not liking the idea one bit.

"By the time we get back there, it'll mean less sleep. That is if there are still rooms, usually there is a curfew at that too." Harmony points out. "There isn't anything wrong with sleeping outside. I've got a tent if you want to share, it's really roomy Dawn," she says to the younger teen.

However, their luck seemed to change as two strangers who looked awfully familiar to Harmony came to their rescue.

"Worry not! We've got four hots and a cot," The lady with red hair tied in a bun said.

"What you need is what we've got." The guy with blue hair says.

"I dunno that sounds awfully sketchy…" Harmony says hesitantly, "And you look awfully familiar.." she says hesitantly, Chu sniffing the air before a few sparks leave her cheeks sensing her trainers' wariness.

"The Rickety Roof Inn," The two strangers say pointing to what looked to be a really nice Inn.

Ash picked up on Harmony's wariness, "An Inn, in the middle of a forest?"

"You see we love consumers, it's people we can't stand." The lady says walking closer to the group.

"But since you fit neither category then you can stay for free!" the man says.

The word free seemed to get everyone to believe it but Harmony, whos gut was telling her there was something still off about this.

"Well, in that case, it is late, and they seem so nice," Brock says, being the oldest of the group Ash and Dawn seemed to be fine with it.

"Nice is the word!" the duo says just as a Meowth, it was clearly a Meowth to Harmony, dressed in the same robes as the two humans held up a box, which set alarm bells off for Harmony, especially after it spoke.

"And look! Check out this custom fitting box to put your Pikachu's in!" it says holding two boxes with a grin.

"Guys this is even more sketchy...and that's a Meowth for sure." Harmony points out, but the others didn't seem to listen.

"Wow, they thought of everything," Ash says.

A sudden breeze passed through, "When it comes to our customers, we move mountains!" they call out only for the facade of the Inn to fall down and dust to form around them. It was soon revealed that it was Team Rocket the entire time

"Ha! See I was right, they're a bunch of cons!" Harmony says her Pikachu crying out in offense.

"You were supposed to build a hotel! Not a backlot movie set," Jessie cries out in anger at Meowth.

"Let's see what you build with two bucks!" Meowth says sheepishly.

"Team Rocket!" The trio calls out causing Harmony to shake her head "You guys are so oblivious, those costumes weren't even that great." she mutters earning an offensive gasp coming from Jessie.

"Twerps, we can name call just as you can," James says.

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?"

It's speaking to me loud and clear.

On the wind!

Past the stars!

In your ear!

Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace.

Dashing hope, putting fear in its place.

A rose by any other name is just as sweet.

When everything's worse, our work is complete.

Jessie!

And it's James!

And Meowth, now that's a name!

Putting the do-gooders in their place

Team Rocket we're in your face!

"Why do you keep chasing Pikachu!?" Dawn yells out her question.

"Why are you a Twerp?" Jessie counters

James goes to throw a Pokeball out, "Carnivine time to come out and play!"

Harmony narrows her eyes at nodding at Chu who jumps off her shoulder getting in a battle position, only for James' pokemon to bite him on the head making her sweatdrop. "This is what we're up against?"

"No time to play, not time to bite!" James calls out frustrated with his pokemon.

"What's that pokemon?" Ash asks pulling his Pokedex out of his pocket.

Carnivine the bug catcher pokemon. It uses its sweet-smelling saliva to catch its prey

"Guys leave this to me!" Dawn says excitedly causing Harmony's eyes to widen.

"Wait, no Dawn!" she says but Dawn had already called out Piplup to use bubble-beam.

What happened was that Carnivine ate the bubble-beam causing Harmony to sigh.

"Type disadvantage again Dawn...you gotta make sure you're opponent can actually get damaged from a move." Harmony points out.

"Lucky for us Bite for you!" James commands Carnivine.

"Chu, quick block it with Irontail!" Harmony calls out as her Pikachu races to get in front of Piplup, only for a Budew to get in the way causing Chu to skid to a stop and Carnivine to fly back into Team Rocket.

"Budew?" Ash questions.

"That must mean Nando's close!" Harmony says trying to spot the Bard as Budew starts using bullet seed which sent Team Rocket flying with a "We're blasting off again!"

"Such a shame, I was having such a pleasant evening before they showed up." Nando says coming out from behind the trees, "I trust you are alright?" he questions earning a nod from everyone.

"We're fine!" The four of them call out happily.

"Thanks to you for helping us." Dawn thanks Nando.

"You know, we actually came out here looking for you," Ash admits.

"Me, why?" Nando asks.

After setting up a fire and getting warmer Nando started talking.

"You are correct, I'm feeling torn between choosing contest and gym battles."

"But Budew is so strong, perfect for gym battles," Ash points out.

"No way, Budew's moves were made for contests," Dawn counters.

"If I enter the Sinnoh League I need to win battles in each of the eight gym locations, which gives me eight badges. On the other hand, in order to appear at the Grand Festival I have to win a contest in five arenas, which will give me five ribbons."

"Sounds to me like the gyms your best bet!" Ash says excitedly.

"Sounds to me that the contests are the way to go," Dawn says making Harmony groan.

"Here we go again, can't he just do both? Sure it's a lot of work but it'll be worth it!" Harmony states.

Nando ends the fight, "Alright, keep that up and we won't be able to hear the forest sing." Nando says.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Dawn asks confused.

As soon as they were quiet you could hear all the pokemon singing softly in the distance of the forest.

"All the forest pokemon are singing at once, this reminds me of home in Galar," Harmony says softly her eyes shutting to just listen. Chu moving to lean a bit on her lap calm by the sounds.

"The forest really does sing," Brock says happily.

"It really is gorgeous, I never noticed it before, now I'll always hear it," Dawn says in awe.

"Yeah, sleeping outside isn't so bad after all right?" Ash says with a grin, moving a bit until he noticed Harmony had almost fallen asleep her head leaning towards his shoulder making him smile a bit.

Dawn who was sitting on his other side sheepishly apologized to Ash, "I'm sorry Ash, all the complaining I've done. I guess things haven't been going well for me and I just taking it out all on you."

"I haven't exactly been mister nice," Ash says softly apologizing as well but also trying not to move to wake the now sleeping Harmony up. "Nando I was wondering if you'd have a battle with me in the morning?" Ash asks Nando.

"The honor would be mine," Nando says as the rest shuffle around to get everything set up for the night.

"Mmm? Bedtime?" Harmony mumbles having felt Ash shake her awake. "Alright...night," she mumbles not bothering to really move only to nearly fall not realizing where she was going.

"Woah! Careful, you're sleeping bag is here." Ash says helping her down as she got in it.

"Thanks, night guys," she says sleepily, able to fall back asleep quickly.

The next morning the battle between Nando and Ash went well. It resulted in Budew evolving into a Roselia. Even though that happened Ash was still able to overcome it and he and Pikachu won the battle.

When the battle was over Chu leaped off of Harmony's shoulder and rushed to Pikachu happily giving his cheek a nuzzle full of electricity cooing happily.

"Still have to read what Magnolia sent me…" Harmony says sheepishly watching as Nando returned Roseila into its Pokeball.

"Now to Ash and Dawn. I offer you my thanks. I finally know what I must do," Nando says.

"You're going to try for the Sinnoh League, aren't you?" Ash asks making Harmony chuckled shaking her head.

"You're going for the Grand festival, right?" Dawn asks.

"Both, again Both is good." Harmony points out once again.

"As Harmony said, I've decided to do both," Nando says earning a cheer from Harmony. "I enjoyed battling you two so much that I wouldn't dream about giving up on either one of them. And so, for now, I bid you farewell until we meet again!"

"Sounds great!" Harmony, Dawn, and Ash say with grins on their faces.

They part with Nando waving goodbye as they continue their trek towards Jubilife city.


	4. Getting Twiggy With It!

It was a few days later when once again the group of four had been bombarded by Team Rocket who at this point had decided after overhearing Harmony talk about something special about the pair of Pikachu’s that it was their new goal to steal not just Ash’s but also Harmony’s!

“Team Rocket come back!” Harmony and Ash call out angrily as Tea Rocket’s balloon was up in the air, a rope dropped below where Pikachu and Chu were doing what they could to try and break free.

“That’s not your Pikachu!” Dawn cries out as all four of them run after them.

“Never stopped us before, we’re not changing our modus operandi because of a twerp” James calls out from above.

“Right we laugh at the word enough, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is too,” Jessie says with a grin on her face.

“Forget Pikachu and collect stamps!” Meowth teases out.

“Now! Starly I choose you!” Ash calls out tossing his Pokeball out letting his Starly out. “Starly cut the rope holding Pikachu and Chu with Wing Attack!” Ash calls out

“As if! Let’s ask Carnivine for an alternate opinion.” James calls out only for his Carnivine to chomp on his head which had Jessie and Meowth trying to help pry it off, causing the balloon to shake around only for Starly to get landed on popping the balloon with his beak.

“Starly!” Ash calls out.

“Oh no! Chu!” Harmony yells out with worry as the four of them froze watching the balloon go down.

“Pikachu!” Ash calls out as the group had heard Team Rocket blasting off.

“Chu!” Harmony cries out rushing past as her Pikachu leaps away from Pikachu and Turtwig to nuzzle into her arms, which seemed to upset the Turtwig.

“Everything okay?” Ash asks as the Turtwig steps in front of Pikachu saying something.

“Wow, it’s a Turtwig!” Dawn says in amazement.

“Sure is, pretty sure it’s a Sinnoh Region stater pokemon,” Ash says pulling his Pokedex out. 

Turtwig the tiny leaf Pokemon, it’s shell is made of earth and when it absorbs water it becomes harder.

“That’s really rare, to find a start pokemon in the wild.” Harmony says, “And for a wild one to be in such great health like that.” she says in awe.

“This is my chance!” Dawn says bringing out her Pokeball, “Piplup us peck!” she calls out.

Needless to say it didn’t go well, with Turtwig responding by using razor leaf and hitting an Oddish who uses sleep powder in Pikachu’s direction only or Ash to try and protect his pokemon ending up falling to sleep.

“Is he always going to be this reckless?” Harmony says with a sigh moving her bag off her shoulder, “I have one Awakening though…” she says with a groan. “I forgot to stock up…” she says only to look up and notice that Turtwig had taken Pikachu off of Ash and was taking him somewhere. This did not sit well with Chu who moved off Harmony’s shoulder and raced after him.

“Hey! Chu! Don’t run off!” Harmony cries out zipping her bag and racing after her pokemon.

“Hey wait!” Harmony heard Brock call out behind her, but her focus was on getting to Chu.

Harmony didn’t notice that someone else was there as she had run off in search of Chu.

Chu had found Pikachu who was awake and raced over to him nuzzling her red cheek against his sparking a bit while Turtwig tilted its head in confusion. Chu then turned to Turtwig and started talking to it with a bit of anger, which was where Harmony found them.

“Oh thank goodness you are alright. You had me worried and the others seemed to have not followed me.” she says with a sigh of relief only to move out of the way from a razor leaf attack. “Hey! That’s not nice at all! Turtwig!” she says in a small scolding manner, “Pikachu and Chu are fine, Ash really would like Pikachu back, it’s Team Rocket that is always trying to get him.”

It was then there were cries of an argument among other pokemon which caught Turtwig’s attention as he glanced at her before running off. Harmony moved to follow, scooping Pikachu and Chu up and onto her shoulders.

Up ahead Turtwig had seen a Mankey and Geodude fighting over some fruit, but instead of solving the issue he seemed to get into a fight which Pikachu went to try and stop only to get tossed back. “Uh well...I guess that’s one way to handle it? Wouldn’t having them split the fruit work better?” Harmony whispered to Chu who had a sweat-drop going on as well as Pikachu.

A few minutes later Harmony had a notebook out and was writing down what Turtwig did, was instead of splitting the one fruit he had gotten the two pokemon equal amounts of more fruit. “Fascinating.”

Turtwig had seemingly been a bit more trusting towards Harmony as he was letting his guard down to take a nap making her smile softly slipping her phone out to snap a small photo. “He is cute, Milo would love seeing this,” she whispers to Chu who nodded in agreement that the newer Galar Grass Gym Leader would love seeing this.

“Pikachu! Harmony!” Ash calls out a bit of relief in his voice which made Harmony look up, and obviously put Turtwig on high alert as he moved in front of them letting out unhappy calls of its name.

“We thought we’d find you here,” Dawn says with a grin.

“It’s great how well Clara knows Turtwig,” Brock says making Harmony frown

“Clara? Is that why you didn’t follow me?” she asks as Ash moves to walk forward closer.

That move seemed to trigger Turtwig who started running at full speed tackling Ash in the stomach.

“Ash!” Harmony cries out along with the two Pikachu’s in worry. “Turtwig! That was not nice, he wasn’t going to attack us!” she scolds moving to try and block the Pokemon as Pikachu tried to reason with it.

Turtwig, however, was not budging but it had faltered a bit when it looked at Harmony before almost huffing and turning its attention back to Ash with narrowed eyes.

“It’s not listening to Pikachu or Harmony,” Brock says bewildered. 

“Pikachu’s my best friend! See we were only trying to help. Team Rocket they’re the bad guys who took Pikachu from me and we’re trying to stop ‘em” Ash explains as he grabs his hat off from the ground.

Turtwig tilted its head looking back at Harmony who nodded, “I know, I told you, you wouldn’t listen little one.” she says softly as Turtwig gets a horrified look on its face before bowing multiple times as if to apologize. 

“I guess Turtwig is sorry for what happened,” Brock says with a smile on his face.

“A little too sorry don’t you think?” Dawn says softly.

Ash moves to get up placing his hat back on his head and walks over to the Turtwig who had its head down and pet it’s back, “Don’t worry about it Turtwig, hey I’m really grateful to you for saving Pikachu!” Ash says which Turtwig looks up at him with tears in his eyes.

The moment, however, was ruined because a Linoone came out covered in wounds collapsed.

“A Linoone? But what’s wrong?” Ash says.

“A battle perhaps?” Harmony says as Ash and her rush off, Dawn pulling her Pokedex out to check it out.

Linoone the rushing pokemon, when it spots its prey it runs after it in a straight line. Though able to run at 60 miles per hour, it is unable to turn.

As Ash held the Linoone Harmony tried to gather a few things from her bag, “Okay I have some potion left that can hold it off for now.” She says softly as Brock moves near her to check it out nodding.

“This Linoone smashed into something really hard, Harmony give it the potion and we’ll help it back at Clara’s,” Brock tells them and Harmony nods applying what she had left of a potion before they rushed it back to Clara’s house.

At Clara’s house, Brock fixed up the Linooone easily with herbs from Clara’s garden, Harmony having helped make the paste.

“This is awesome Brock, you sure are really good at this, I hope I can pick up some of this as well, usually all I can do is carry less natural remedies,” she admits as she helps Brock applying the paste to the Linoone. “But then again with a Linoone like this it’s far easier, the ones in Galar are a bit harder to handle” she admits. 

The others were talking to Clara while Brock and Harmony helped heal the Linoone. “They’re different in Galar?” Brock asks.

“Yeah, they’re dark types, black and white instead of tan and brown. And tend to get a bit more rambunctious than these it seems. It’s interesting, and something I would love to research more into, but I’m still helping Professor Magnolia with things that I can’t do my own research for a few more years.” she admits. “I wouldn’t change it though, I love doing more exploring for data. Getting the info on Turtwig in the wild was interesting,” she explains.

“Gathering research is something of interest, but why specific pokemon like Turtwig?” Brock asks.

“Well Turtwigs aren’t allowed in Galar, specific ones aren’t even able to get into our borders, they usually have to come through the Isle of Armor or The Crown Tundra before coming into the main parts of Galar. They’re picky about other regions pokemon because of disease and all that. I find it silly, but that’s the way Chairman Rose runs things.” she says with a shrug. “There you go Linoone soon you’ll be able to be back out there!” she says gently petting its head as it sighed in content.

“Mmm, anytime you need something eaten just ask!” Dawn says as she dug into the soup Brock had made.

“Well then you’ll have to try some curry with me sometime, I have the stuff in my pack, straight from Galar.” Harmony teases, “but it might be a bit too spicy or your tastes I could attempt sweeter but most of my pokemon like that or bitter.” she states earning a sparkle from Dawn about trying more food as their journey would continue.

Ash turned to the pokemon who were eating on the ground, “Hey Linoon good food huh?” he asks. The Linoone gave out a happy cry and Turtwig moved it’s bowl closer to it so it would have more.

“Aww Turtwig is so sweet, sharing his food!” Harmony coos.

“You know what you’re nice after all!” Ash says happily to Turtwig earning a nod from the Pokemon. “But don’t let it go to your head,” Ash state before pointing to his, “Or mine!” he says and Turtwig looks a bit sad only to look up once Ash started laughing, “It was just a little joke.”

“Hey Turtwig, you should eat too,” Harmony says as Ash handed her his bowl and she filled it up, with Ash moving to give it to him. 

This act that Ash did seemed to spark some sort of joy with Turtwig as he jumped up biting Ash’s head. 

“Oh my goodness, now that is one way to show affection,” Harmony says giggling.

Clara started laughing as well, “Turtwig is such a scamp.” she says causing Ash to freeze from trying to pull the pokemon off his head.

“Huh?”

“When Turtwig bites you it’s a sign that Turtwig really likes you,” Clara explains.

Dawn looks confused, “So does that mean Turtwig does that to you too?”

“Of course, come here Turtwig!” Clara says wiggling her finger, which alerted Turtwig to jump towards her only to be caught by a stick making Harmony squeal.

“My little Chewtle used to do that when she was a little baby!” Harmony coos with big eyes. “I mean she still chomps down on my leg because she’s too big to fly through the air, but she loves showing that kind of affection.” 

It was then three suction cups darted through the air landing on Pikachu, Chu, and Turtwig making everyone gasp.

“Pikachu!” Ash calls out.  
“Chu! Hey! Stop it!” Harmony cries out getting up to follow after Ash.

“Turtwig! Pikachu!” Ash calls out his hand falling into a fist as the three pokemon were put into a glass container in the river.

It was then a giant Magikarp submarine popped up making Harmony groan. “Of course it’s those gits again,” she growled out her Galarian accent coming through thick.

“Who in the name of Pokemon are you?” Clara asks.

“Listen, is that a voice I hear?  
It's speaking to me loud and clear.  
On the wind!  
Past the stars!  
In your ear!  
Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace.  
Dashing hope, putting fear in its place.  
A rose by any other name is just as sweet.  
When everything's worse, our work is complete.  
Jessie!  
And it's James!  
And Meowth, now that's a name!  
Putting the do-gooders in their place  
Team Rocket we’re in your face!”

“Team Rocket!” Dawn and Ash yell out at the same time with frustration.

“Say that’s some catch, you can’t get any fresher than this!” James calls out.

“Come one! Why don’t you give it up!” Dawn says angrily.

“That hat of yours is too tight otherwise you’d remember what I said, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is too,” Jessie says sarcastically.

“We’ve got three power pokemon bunched in a peekaboo package,” Meowth says with a grin before the three of them head down and go to try and get away.

“Oh no, you don’t! Pip let’s go!” Harmony calls out her Piplup, it’s fur sparkling as it went straight into the water with her following after. “Alright, buddy like we’ve practiced in the water,” she says.

Ash called out in surprise but following after her as Pip darts in front of the humans to try and catch up with the submarine.

It was then that Dawn’s Piplup joined in following after. “Alright, Pip! Try using what we were doing with that Scald!” she calls out, hoping the hot water would melt away a bit with the Magikarp sub.

“I’ve got you!” Harmony says finally making it to the glass tube while Ash moved beside her. Her Piplup having dove underwater to try and use Scald against the submarine. Unfortunately have not fully mastered the move Pip was struggling with. And by that point, Team Rocket had found out and had drug Harmony and Ash underwater. 

Turtwig fed up with all this started using tackle against the glass, giving Ash an idea. “Pikachu, Chu you two use iron tail!” he says making Harmony wince a bit at him using his air up. 

When the pokemon did that Harmony moved a bit to grab Ash’s hand wanting him to go up, “Thunderbolt guys.” she gurgles out. Just as that was happening Pip was finally able to use Scald, which was not good as the two combines with the thunderbolt electrocuted everyone and the scald causing a mass explosion.

Harmony and Ash were thrown to the ground and groaned as the Pokemon landed on top of them, Harmony had landed on top of Ash in a weird way and hadn’t noticed until the groans came from below her. Her cheeks flushed a bit at that and she moved off him quickly, helping him up, “Bloody ‘ell, ‘m sorry Ash.” she says as he was helped up.

“It’s so good to see you’re all okay,” Clara says relieved. 

“Well besides some minor bruises we’re great,” Harmony says scooping her Piplup up. “Pip you did so well!” she praises.

“You did such a good job too, Piplup!” Dawn praises her Piplup that looked extremely happy about it.

“How are you tow guys holding up?” Ash asks Turtwig and Pikachu who were shaking their bodies a bit to get rid of excess water.  
It was then that Turtwig used Synthesis to heal itself making Harmony hum, “Smart to have that.” 

“What’s that?” Dawn asks.

“It’s called Synthesis,” Clara tells her.

“Synthesis is a move that allows Pokemon to heal really fast,” Brock explains.

“What do you know? It really works!” Dawn says with awe.

“Pardon me if I could care less!” Jessie bites out from behind everyone making them turn around to see Team Rocket in the water, “You make me sick, listen to that Twerish triumph!”

“If you dweebs think we’re going to let you off easy then think again!” Meowth says.

James stands up, “Right! We lose when I say so!” 

“Ally oop!” Jessie says and they all jump out of the water and onto the land making Harmony groan.

They soon got into a battle, with Chu and Pikachu ending up with doing a double volt tackle straight for Team Rocket, causing them to blast off once more. 

“Can we not like get them arrested or something?” Harmony begs.

“Alright!” Ash cheers happily as Turtwig turns to bite him on his head. “Hey, haven’t we had enough biting for one day already? I like you too but this is nuts.” 

On their way to leave Turtwig decided it wanted to be with Ash, only if he could beat him in a battle of course. Once Ash had caught it Harmony flocked him with a hug grinning, “That was awesome!” she says before breaking away her cheeks reddening.

“Wow, that’s how to catch a Pokemon! How cool is that!” Dawn says with a look of awe in her eyes.

“Promise me you’ll take good care of Turtwig now, won’t you dear?” Clara asks Ash, “It means a lot.”

“Right!” Ash says with excitement as the four humans wave to Clara continuing towards Jubilife City to make it for Dawn and Harmony’s first Sinnoh region Contest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a mix of a few episodes as they're just filler and I'd rather not write them out all the way!


	5. The Journey to Jubilife City

On their way, they had run across Paul who once again battled Ash, with Team Rocket interrupting and Ash getting separated from the group.

“Oh, I hope he’s okay…” Harmony says worriedly, Pikachu sitting on her shoulder while Chu was on the other one. “I know he has Turtwig, but still...those woods are more dangerous, especially with Stantler around.”

Once they had reunited with Ash, they were chased by an Ursuring only for Paul to catch it.

With the aggressive pokemon caught Harmony swamped to Ash’s side moving to get some dirt off his face, “What were you doing, swimming through the dirt?” she teases only to notice Ash groan.

“Okay...I guess you were...Stantler is annoying.” she says softly to him. He moves away, his own cheeks a bit flush as he stepped to talk to Paul who had caught the pokemon wanting to finish the battle.

It didn’t go well, with Ash losing once more and Paul making a remark that made Ash angry. “Ash please calm down, some trainers aren’t as affectionate with their pokemon as others are,” she says softly. “I’m not sure if Chimchar is a good fit for him, but maybe he’ll realize that and let him go to have someone who will care. Every pokemon is different, I’ve been there and had to give pokemon to others as they’re better suited for another type of training. I had a dragon type and she was amazing but didn’t sit well with me, so Leon has her and takes such good care of her.” Harmony explains thinking of her little Fraxure that she gave to Leon as she had seen that her pokemon was an ill fit for her.

“I know it’s hard, but don’t take it too hard on yourself, that’s how he trains, just like you train different than him,” she tells him, gipping his hand which he sighs and nods. 

With Jubilife City just up ahead Harmony and Dawn were practicing, though Dawn out of nerves was not doing so well, while Harmony was having fun with her Sylveon’s ability to showcase quite a bit in a beautiful way. Ash, Brock, and Pikachu we’re all trying to help Dawn while Harmony was a little ways away.

“Okay, Slyveon start off with combo 2!” Harmony calls out snapping her fingers, her pokemon releasing a Dazzling Gleam followed by a Shadowball exploding from the Dazzling Gleam and forming sparkles to appear all over her Pokemon who jumped in the sparkles. “Great job! Now let’s finish this up with combo 4 up in the air!” she tells her pokemon who did just that forming a moon blast and tossing it up before getting into the position to use iron tail before posing with the pink dust formed around her with a happy coo of her name. 

“Woah! That was amazing!” Harmony heard Dawn say.

“More like incredible!” Ash says throwing his fist in the air

Turning to look at her friend Harmony’s cheeks flush at the compliments. “Thanks, guys, we do try our best, right Slyveon?” she says her pokemon running back to her wrapping ribbons around her wrists in excitement.

“I wish we could be like that.” Dawn said in awe, “But Piplup keeps getting really dizzy when trying a combo…” she says sadly.

Harmony frowns, “That could be because he’s losing his focus.” she says placing her finger under her chin, “Usually if you stay focused on one spot while doing a spinning showcasing move it works better.” she explains to Dawn and Piplup. “Also believing in yourself and your pokemon does wonders Dawn.” 

Harmony could never have guessed what was going to happen, with Team Rocket being a menace again, this time stealing other wild pokemon’s food source. But, at least this time Piplup was there to help and ended up mastering his spin.

“That was great what Piplup did back there, those water types were cute and didn’t deserve what Team Rocket was trying to do to their food.” Harmony praises Dawn, who after today seemed far more confident about the upcoming contest.

It was a day later when Ash had heard about a new gym opening up making Harmony furrow her brows in confusion about it seeing as the guidebook she had had no information about said gym. “I dunno, if you guys want to check it out you can, I’d rather try practicing some more,” she admits to them. “How about I stay here and if it’s any good you come back and tell me?” she offers, “We’re already setting camp up for lunch might as well.” she points out.

Ash shrugs, “Oh well, if that means I get ahead by a badge then you know I will! C’mon Pikachu!” 

“Be safe! Don’t get into trouble and for Arceus’ sake please keep an eye out for Team Rocket! Harmony calls out as the trio of her friends head off.

“I think they’re going to get into trouble…” Harmony mutters, Chu’s ears going down with concern. 

Of course, Harmony had been right, and Ash was pointing it out as they came back that it was just another Team Rocket ploy making her shrug as she finished up the curry. 

“Well at least you’re all safe.” she points out having set out pokemon bowls too. 

“We’ll need one more though Harmony, I got a new pokemon,” Brock says to her and she finally took notice to the Croagunk sitting there.

“Oh! That’s lovely, I’ll get another bowl then.” Harmony says before Ash started snickering. “What’s so funny Ash Ketchum?” she says her hands going on her hips.

“It’s just that, Brock met a girl and Crogunk Poison Jabbed him when he did.” Ash points out causing Harmony to grin.

“Meaning that hopefully every time he flirts Crogunk will take care of him and make us have to deal less with it, nice. Okay, dinner’s ready!” she calls out, “Tomorrow we’ll get closer to Jubilife city!”

The following day seemed to start out okay if one could consider Dawn freaking out at the begging as okay. “Dawn, calm down, please? I’ll go get my brush, we can have Piplup use some bubbles to get your hair untangled.” Harmony offers, earning a small unzip to scoot into her tent and help the poor girl with her hair. “See? All better, why do you think I braid my hair before bed? Less of a bedhead.” she teases. 

When Dawn had pointed out her nice clean and styled hair to Ash he shrugged it off.

“I’m gonna wear a hat anyway! So it won’t matter.” he says.

Harmony chuckles, “Well I mean your hair is pretty long in itself Ash, I bet you just don’t want to cut it, but the messy look suits you.” she teases with a wink, which made Ash’s face light up a bit.

It wasn’t until later that Chu became grumpy. Harmony took note of that quickly enough when Dawn had spotted another Buneary, but this one seemed to be quite infatuated with Pikachu.

“Uh, Dawn, you best catch her, I don’t think Chu is gonna be very happy if Ash catches her,” Harmony admits, “Last thing I want is for jealousy to be something that Chu has often if Ash catches that Buneary.” she points out.

Buneary didn’t seem to like that remark, and Chu getting fed up with her had jumped off Harmony’s shoulder just as Buneary used Ice Beam to freeze everyone. 

With that happening, Chu was livid and had raced after the Buneary and Pikachu.

Once everyone was out of the ice by Crogunk they rushed off to try and help with the bunch of trouble caused by Team Rocket as usual. 

“I kinda feel bad for Dawn’s Buneary liking Pikachu, because Chu and Pikachu are already happy with one another,” Harmony says softly to Ash the two Pikachu’s cuddled up while Buneary looked at them sadly before hopping into Dawn’s lap.

“I know, but as your Professor said, it’s something special those two have, I don’t think even Buneary will try to break that up.” Ash points out earning a nod from Harmony.

“I also hate that this is our normal now with Team Rocket, don’t you?” Harmony asks him.

“I guess it is annoying, but at the same time, it means extra training if you look at it?” Ash points out.

“Hmm, I guess your right in that sense. Well good night Ash, see you in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is mostly filler stuff, cause I'm not going to write every episode when they don't really pertain towards my plot line I want to do. But if there is an episode you really enjoy let me know, that way I'll try and write it!


	6. Chapter 6: Not on MY Watch Ya Don't!

“C’mon Jubilife city is just up ahead!” Harmony and Dawn call out to the guys grinning. “Let’s go get those Poketch’s!” they cheer on with one another.

Once they got to the shop however was when everything went south, “A representative from the Poketch company just came to take them all back.” the store clerk says much to Harmony and Dawn’s disappointment. 

“But...but..” Harmony says with a pout before sighing, “Alright thanks though, there’s got to be a reason they got recalled then..” she says but Dawn was not having it.

“I really wanted to have a Poketch to wear for my first contest,” Dawn says glumly.

“Don’t let it bum you out,” Ash tries.

“I know how about we have a good lunch?” Brock offers.

“Lunch smunch! I can really go for a triple banana split with extra hot fudge sauce!” Dawn says pulling her magazine back out.

Up ahead there were some clowns with boxes filled with Poketchs. “Poketchs a plenty!”

“Enough to wrap around everyone’s wrist in Sinnoh!”

“When it comes to making a fashion statement, you can be sure these three clowns are not clowning around.”

“So be cruel or drool!” 

Harmony frowns, “That’s fishy beyond anything, Dawn I don’t think you should...Dawn!?” she cried out but Dawn was not listening instead had gotten one herself and was happy about it.

Ash and Brock had been given them and Harmony had taken one before tossing it in the trash on their way to the park with a huff. “It’s clearly fake, too lightweight to be the real thing.” she states, “So whatever the scam is I don’t want part of it! That’s your choice.” she huffs flicking her head off to the side. 

Leaning against Ash as the four of them tried to sit on a smaller park bench was interesting, especially since Dawn was gawking at her new Poketch the whole time. 

“Wow, dreams really do come true! I just gotta win the Jubilife contest now!” she says admiring her Poketch.

All of a sudden a small pokemon came up to them as if scolding them.

“Oh my Arceus it’s a Shinx!” Harmony coos, “It’s a super cute electric type!” 

Ash was confused as he pulled his Pokedex out.

Shinx the flash Pokemon, when it senses danger the hairs on its body light up and it runs away leaving it’s opponent dazed.

“Uh-oh, why’s that Shinx barking so much?” Dawn questions.

“It’s that Poketch!” A little kid tells her his arms crossed over his chest. “Shinx is trying to let you guys know that all those Poketch’s are fakes!” 

“See! I told you so!” Harmony calls out, “Street vendors are always sketchy!” she points out jumping up and turning to face her friends.

“Fakes? That can’t be!” Dawn says looking down at her watch.

“Fraid so! A real Poketch wouldn’t be such a dumb color, and soon the paint will be coming off!” the boy states.

“You sure?” Ash asks sounding disappointed.

“Course he’s not right! How dare you rank on my Poketch!” Dawn says with a huff.

“Alright, guess I’ll have to show you,” the boy says with a sigh taking Dawn’s Poketch off and moving away.

“Hey! Give that back! What are you doing?” Dawn says upset.

As soon as the kid turned he turned to the water spraying it with it.

“Hey! You ruined my Poketch!” Dawn cries out angrily.

“See? Still think it’s the real deal?” The boy states smugly showing the paint ridden Poketch.

“You sure do know a lot about Poketch’s don’t you?” Harmony questions.

“Yeah, how did you know they were fakes?” Dawn questions.

“That’s easy! Because my daddy would never make something so cheap!” the kid points out.

“Daddy?” the four of us question.

The group ended up at the HQ for Poketch with Landis leading them inside.

“Oh no not again.” the kids’ father apologies, “First of all I’d like to thank you for your interest in our Poketch’s. And furthermore, on behalf of the Poketch Corporation, I apologize for my son’s actions. I’m sorry for all the trouble he caused.”

“No worry, he informed us about the fakes! It’s a shame that there are fakes happening, I wonder why someone would do that.” Harmony says with a sigh.

“Check it out, so this is where you make the real ones?” Ash questions looking around in awe.

“And as soon as I heard there were counterfeits in circulation I had my distributors pull all my products from the store. Unfortunately, we weren’t in time to be able to pull the TV commercial,” he admits.

“But sir, will you be selling them in time for the pokemon contests?” Dawn asks hopefully.

“Truth is, unless I get this imitation Poketch problem solved, it’s hard for me to say,” he tells Dawn.

“Oh, I see,” Dawn says disappointedly.

“Excuse me are you a pokemon coordinator?” Landis asks.

“Yeah, the Jubilife contest will be my first one!” Dawn says happily.

“I see, we have a rookie on our hands I see,” he says smugly.

“I’m a coordinator as well, and Jubilife will be my first one in the Sinnoh region.” Harmony tells him with a grin trying to ease Dawn out of it. “And everyone is a rookie at some point, but that’s what makes it more fun!”

“My combinations are all ready for the big time!” Dawn tells him her temper getting to her.

“I have something you might be interested in,” Landis’s father points out, “right here is a prototype it’s our newest model.” he says reaching behind him to the desk, “it actually measures a pokemon’s friendship you see?”

“What?” Dawn asks confused.

“That refers to the friendliness and good relations between pokemon and trainer,” Brock explains. 

“Cool!” 

“Would you mind testing Pikachu and me?” Ash asks.

“Why not!? Of course” he says holding the Poketch up to the two of them, “It seems you get along well, but how well?” he questions as the machine does its thing. It soon beeps showcasing the data. “Goodness gracious! You two are almost off the graph!” he says before leaning down to show his son.

“Wow, that might be the highest rating I’ve ever seen!”

“Well, of course, that’s because me and Pikachu have been best friends for a long time!” Ash says with a laugh.

Harmony, Brock, and Dawn soon followed suit wanting to get their readings too. Harmony’s went off the chart while Brock had a strong friendship going with Crogunk. Dawn, however, her and Piplup didn’t seem to have that strong of one at all which made Dawn upset.

“Friendship has much to do with how long you and your pokemon have been together. I’m sure it will go up before you know it!” he tries to reassure her.

“My advice don’t enter that contest no matter what you do.” Landis says smugly, which seemed to make Dawn angry.

“Well if you’re so smart, why don’t you test the friendship between you and Shinx!”

“Uh sorry, no can do. I’m too young, see I’m still just a student at the trainer school.”

“But, what’s a trainer school?” Dawn asks making Harmony gasp.

“You didn’t go to a trainer school? Is it not mandatory? Galar you have to have at least a few years of schooling done before you can get a pokemon at all, or be enrolled in a school in order to have a pokemon to train along some of the less high-level areas of Galar.” Harmony states with a shake of her head. 

“As soon as we graduate Shinx and I are going to enter the Sinnoh League!” Landis states happily.

“I guess that makes us all rivals huh?” Harmony teases nudging Ash who nods.

“We’re both entering the League right now!” Ash points out.

“But I thought you were a coordinator?” Landis asks.

“I am, you can do both it’s not common, but a lot of my pokemon love doing both.” Harmony points out.

“Wow, that must be awesome! You must be real good!” Landis says with wide eyes.

Soon they were led out and waved goodbye to them as they headed to the Pokemon Center.

Dawn was pacing around the room while Harmony laid on her bunk bed and Ash and Brock sat on theirs listening to Dawn’s ranting.

“Dawn chill out, don’t take it to heart, he’s a kid and still learning.” Harmony says boredly. 

It was then that Pikachu and Chu, who were cuddling against one another had their ears flick towards a sound, causing them to get up confusingly.

“Huh? Pikachu what?” Ash questions as he looks out the window. 

“What’s going on?” Harmony asks from atop of her bed, sitting up from laying down.

“There’s a bunch of Pokemon leaving” Ash points out “They look kinda weird though.” he points out making Harmony frown and get down from the top bunk to join in. 

“You’re right, that’s weird. It looks suspicious too...let’s check it out!” she says and everyone goes to get their shoes on.

“Where are all these pokemon going?” Ash questions as the group made it outside. 

“They’re acting so weird!” Dawn says confused.

“I don’t think they can even hear us, Dawn…” Harmony says trying to get better looks at the pokemon. “In fact, I think they’re in some kind of trance…”

“Hey Kids!” The four of them hear in the distance to see the Poketch president and his son running towards them.

“It’s you,” Ash says confused.

“Why are you out here?” Dawn asks.

“It’s Shinx! Shinx just ran off with no reason!” he explains, “We’ve been looking everywhere we could! Those fake Poketchs started playing the sound of a Psyduck calling some attack move then Shinx just ran off. Shinx would never just leave. I was hoping perhaps you have seen Shinx wandering with this pokemon group?” 

“How did the Psyduck get in the Poketchs?” Ash asks.

“Ugh if you’re asking me this is a low even for them, and it wasn’t in the Poketch’s Ash! It was playing the sound, so either it’s being broadcasted from somewhere in the city or its live.” Harmony explains, “So we should follow the pokemon and see where it leads us!”

Eventually, the pokemon did lead the group somewhere, that being the park where they were all inside some metal box.

“Really, this is their plan?” Harmony grumbles, “At least they can be creative…” she muses about Team Rocket.

Shinx was out in the front of the group and Landis raced towards it wanting his pokemon. As soon as he did that the door started to shut causing Dawn to be quick on her feet and race to grab him to be away from the slamming door.

“Look out!” Dawn calls out.

“Landis, you okay?” Dawn asks worried after he had slammed into the ground with her.

“That was close, alright who’s doing this?” Dawn asks.

“Who else do you think Dawn?” Harmony groans as Team Rocket start to do their motto.  
“We get it, shut up ya bloody bastards! Stop saying the same old shtick!” she calls out earning a rude response from Jessie.

“No! You keep botherin us so Imma call you out about it! You want a battle We’ll give you one!”

“Chu! Pikachu! Piplup! Let’s go!” Harmony, Ash, and Dawn call out only for their pokemon to be trapped in glass balls. 

“Are you kidding me! I am over this now!” Harmony growls out grabbing one of her other pokeballs, “Ciders! I need your assistance!” she calls out, her Cinderacecoming out in all it’s glory getting in a battle stance.

“Woah!” everyone says before backing away a bit already sensing Harmony’s wrath forming. “

“Okay Cinders, we have to get that thing down somehow without crashing it, means Pyro Ball is out of the question…”

“Hey, Harmony I’ve got an idea I want to try with Buneary!” Dawn says grabbing her arm.

“...Okay, Dawn, let’s see you use Ice beam and we’ll take care of the rest,” she says with a grin.

That was just what Dawn and Buneary did throwing an ice beam straight at Team Rocket, reeing them and allowing for Pikachu, Chu, and Piplup to be released. 

“Cinders! Quick! grab them with an Extreme Speed” Harmony calls out, her football-loving rabbit pokemon darting at a quick speed. “That’s it! Way to go!”

Soon the balloon and box came tumbling down and all the pokemon inside seem a bit befuddled on what had happened, but awake nonetheless. 

“I think they’re waking up!” Dawn says happily as Ash had rushed to grab Pikachu from Cinders holding his buddy close to him.

“The fall must have caused a shock that snapped them out of it,” Harmony says with a grin as the pokemon slowly come out.

“Listen! Go back to your trainers right away!” The Poketch president says and the pokemon disperse Shinx running up to Landis as quickly as it could.

It was then Team Rocket somehow got out of the ice and were rather angry about the pokemon getting away.

“Cinders let’s show them what a Galarian does with annoyances like these.” Harmony seethes her eyes narrowing not even giving Team Rocket a chance to throw their pokemon out. “Give ‘em a Pyro Ball!” she calls out her rabbit doing just that by kicking a pebble from the ground forming it into a large fireball and kicking it straight for Team Rocket, causing them to fly up into the air.

“Great, now that that is over I’m tired…” Harmony says with a sigh of relief moving to lean against Ash who had moved to hug her. 

Before they could call it a night officer Jenny and Nurse Joy came driving in on Jenny’s cycle.

“We heard there was a group of hypnotized pokemon.” Nurse joy says worriedly.

“We came out as soon as we could, is there anything we can do to help?” Officer enny asks and Brock quickly goes lovesick in front of them only stopping when Crogunk hits him with a poison jab.

The next morning Harmony and Dawn were gushing about their new Poketch’s they had gotten as thanks. Harmony’s was sitting on her left wrist while she still had her Dynamax band on her right even if she couldn’t use it anywhere but Galar.

“Check them out!” Harmony says happily showcasing her baby blue colored band in the sun as Dawn did the same with her pink one. “They look so cool! Now we’re both ready for the contest right Dawn?” 

“Right Harmony, and you know I’m going to win of course!” 

“You keep wishing that, but I am so going to win!” Harmony says the two linking their arms in with a playful look on their faces. “I won’t go easy on you just because we’re friends.”


	7. Mounting A Coordinator Assault

As the day of the contest was there Harmony had been getting her outfit together while Dawn tried on hers that her mother had sent her with. 

“It looks amazing Dawn,” Harmony says with a grin looking up from her blue dress she had been sewing a few minor touches to.

“I’ve never seen this side of you Dawn,” Brock says as the group watched Dawn spin around and curtsy.

“Wearing a dress is a new one on me,” Ash says sheepishly.

“But Dawn always wears a skirt, which is similar to a dress Ash.” Harmony teases, “It’s a bit fancier of course but still looks just as lovely.” 

“Well, what did you expect for a Pokemon Contest?” Dawn says with a wide grin on her face.

“You mean you’re all dressed up because it’s your first time out?”

“For your information, coordinators in the Sinnoh region always dress up for contests” Dawn points out.

“Exactly, though I always have preferred to dress me and my pokemon up a bit for the performing round.” Harmony points out as Sylveon wags her tail happily as she had a bow matching Harmony’s dress around her neck. Little rhinestones all around it making it sparkle as it would with what they had planned to do.

“All done!” Harmony says holding her dress up. The blue ruffled dress had minor adjustments she had made by adding in more ribbons around the top, fixing the corset look it had going along with a few of the stitches around it with a sparkly holographic kind thread. 

“Wow, that looks amazing!” Dawn says with her eyes sparkling before she turned to her mother who was on the video call, “Thanks again, mom! I just love my new dress!”

“I’m glad you like it and all dear, but I think you need to look in the box I sent you,” Johana responds to her daughter.

“Huh?” 

“There should have been a choker in that box,” Johana says pointing to her own neck as Dawn leans in closer.

“A choker? I didn’t see a choker?” Dawn says puzzled.

It was then a pokemon came up to them it’s tail extending up towards Dawn with what appeared to be the missing choker. “Oh look at that! Aren’t you beautiful!” Harmony says with a grin looking at the cat pokemon. Her Rotom dex quickly flying out to scan the pokemon.

Glameow the catty Pokemon when angry it flashes its claws but also can purr quite affectionately.

“Now what do we have here?” Dawn says leaning in to see what Glameow was holding out to her.

“Now that’s your choker!” Johanna says with a bright smile.

“Ah, there you are,” A voice is heard walking closer to them. 

“Huh? Are you the one who found this?” Dawn asks as the Glameow happily jumps into the girls’ arms.

“It was on the floor in the dressing room,” the girl tells them. 

“But how did you know it was Dawn’s?” Brock questions.

“That’s easy, matching that to the owner was a breeze, she’s the only girl in the complex who is wearing something that would go with it.” the girl explains.

“I am? Thank you!” Dawn says taking it as a compliment as she quickly put it on before turning to her mother, “See? I have the choker now so you don’t have to worry about a thing!”

“When you tell me not to worry is when I always worry the most,” Johanna says sternly to Dawn. 

Dawn moved to turn around to thank the girl but she was already gone.

“Sorry Dawn you missed her, maybe you’ll see her during the contest?” Harmony offers as she finishes putting her sewing stuff away in her bag.

Johana got Dawn’s attention back again, “The last thing you need to be is absentminded in your first contest. So watch out” 

“Don’t worry!” Dawn says already too psyched up.

“And what do I do the most when you tell me not to worry?” 

“Ugh,” Dawn says her head hanging low.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be here, and I’ll show her the ropes! Doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on her, but I won’t let her get too distracted.” Harmony teases moving to slip an arm around Dawn’s shoulder trying to get her to relax and not let what her mother was saying get to her.

“I know I can count on you three.” Johana says with a smile, “I’ll be glued to the tv so good luck!”

“Okay, mom!” Dawn says nodding as she says her goodbye with her.

It was a little later when Harmony and Dawn were practicing with the battles when they were interrupted by Aipom created a huge star in the sky which confused Slyveon who tripped trying to keep herself from running into the monkey pokemon.

“Huh, well what do you know, Aipom looks like she wants to perform.” Harmony says with a laugh moving closer to pet Slyveon’s head, “You’re fine sweetie. Hey, Ash you willing to try and compete with Aipom? Sometimes doing more than one helps, using a contest move for a gym battle can confuse the gym leaders “ she admits, “I sure use combos every once in a while, makes it more fun as we confuse those who don’t know the coordinator ways.”

“Aipom is that true?”Ash says rushing to his pokemon’s side as it cheers on happily. “Wait a second you said I should participate?!” he says finally catching up to what Harmony said getting a weird look on his face.

“Why not?” Dawn says having scooped Piplup up in her arms. “It could be a lot of fun! Just think maybe we’ll all end up competing against each other!” Dawn says excitedly.

“Ash you could give it a shot and see what you think, after all, you did compete in the mock on with May before we all went our ways.” Brock points out.

“That’s the coordinator friend you have who is competing in Johto right?” Harmony asks which Brock nods.

“I guess so?” Ash says trying to think only for Aipom to jump on his shoulder excitedly with Pikachu right behind him “Okay! I’ll do it! Well, in that case, that means some more training!”

“And something else too...which neither of you have done.” Harmony says fishing her card out of her pocket, “You know, register?” 

Dawn’s face was in pure horror at her realizing what Harmony had said, “Wah! I totally forgot!” she cried out making Harmony groan.

“I thought you did it when we got back yesterday! That’s what I went to do while the guys were getting ready for bed!” Harmony cries out as she follows the panicking Dawn who was rushing to register.

Thankfully they were able to with no issue. “See was that so hard?” Harmony teases.

The lady behind the counter held out a tray to the two, “here are the other items you’ll need: a ribbon case, a ball capsule, and the rule book of course!” she explains as Ash goes to pick up the items.

“A ball capsule huh?” he says before pulling the seal out from the envelope.

“Wow, I wonder what that seal is for?” Brock questions.

“You really don’t know?” Dawn questions confused. “In the Sinnoh region contests, everyone’s Pokemon makes a super dramatic entrance from their pokeballs,” she explains.

“Yeah, so like right now I’ve got Slyveon’s ball with it on and the heart one, so when I bring her out the hearts will appear around her before we start our combo moves.” Harmony explains fishing the Pokeball out from her belt and showing it to Ash and Brock.

It was later that night when everyone was asleep that Dawn seemingly couldn’t sleep which by going out woke Harmony up.

“Dawn?” Harmony mumbles rubbing her eyes and brushing a few bits of hair that had gotten loose from her kalosian braid she did after her shower. “Why aren’t you sleepin?” 

“Sorry Harmony, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Dawn apologizes softly, Piplup and Buneary by her side.

“You nervous? Is that why you’re awake, don’t worry too much, you need to breathe and just do what you practiced. If you mess up then make it seem like you did something on purpose, “ she explains.

“My first pokemon contest went something like that. I nearly tripped, my Blastoise, Blaster, then tried to make sure I was alright just as he was getting hydro cannon going, so I got soaked and my confidence was much lower then. But we got through it and actually made it to the second round but failed in the finals.” she explains moving closer to her friend. 

“I’m sure your first one won’t be as bad as mine, but you really should sleep or it will be.”

“Thanks, Harmony, I’m glad you’ve taken me under your wing so to speak, I feel a lot better now,” Dawn says and Harmony pulls the girl into a hug.

“It’s no problem at all Dawn, I’m actually glad I get to travel with people, it’s been a long time since I’ve done this. Leon, Raihan, Sonia and I went in a group during my first gym challenge when we met each other at the opening ceremony, groups tend to work better. Now let’s get some sleep.” Harmony says softly.

“Greetings and a warm welcome to coordinators and fans of all ages. We’ve all come together for one special reason, and that reason is to see who will take home the Jubilife City Ribbon! Now I know you’ve all been waiting patiently and now it’s time for you to be rewarded” Marian says into the microphone on stage. “We’re coming to you live and onstage in Jubilife City” she announces as Ash and Harmony watch from the screen in the back.

Brock races up to them, “I can’t find Dawn anywhere!” he states as Harmony and Ash turn around in confusion.

“What? I’ll check the dressing room, you guys go look for her elsewhere!” Harmony calls out rushing off with Slyveon hot on her heels as other Coordinators whisper out in confusion about the unknown pokemon she had.

“Dawn?” Harmony calls out, “Oh there you are, you had us worried.” she says spotting the girl from before. “Let me guess Dawn was freaking out about her hair or something?” she teases earning a huff from her friend followed by a low-level response. “We never got to introduce ourselves, I’m Harmony Sword, from the Galar region,” she explains as Sylveon coos happily from her side. “Oh and this is Sylveon,” she explains. 

“I’m Zoey, I guess I’ll see you in the finals Dawn!” she says with grin walking out which caused Dawn to freak out once more.

“She thinks I’m going to make it to the finals! In my first contest.” she bemoans. 

“And you will if you get your head on straight.” Harmony says with a grin, “C’mon let’s go the guys are worried.” 

“Hey, guys I found her!” Harmony calls out having spotted Ash, “She was having a freak-out, but all is well now!”

They made it to the waiting area where they watched Zoey’s performance. 

“Wow, she’s good” Harmony muses, “But we got this right Sylveon?” earning a grin from her partner before her number was called. “Back in the ball,” she says returning her pokemon.  
“Wish me luck!” she says tossing a wink towards her group of friends while Chu, her Pikachu sat on Brock’s shoulder cheering loudly.

Once onstage Harmony grins tossing her Pokeball up in the air gracefully, “Slyveon time to shine!” she calls out.

Her Slyveon appears in a bunch of hearts surrounding her with a happy cry. 

“Let’s start with combo 2!” she calls out her pokemon shooting of a Dazzling Gleam followed by a and Shadow Ball creating sparkles that she jumped into earning an awe rom the judges and audience. Obviously none of them had ever seen the Fairy-type before and were awe-struck by its beauty. 

“Alright let’s wrap it up with our finale!” Harmony calls out her pokemon nodding happily and charging up a moon blast before releasing it and a shadow ball straight after it, this time creating fireworks all around the stage and over the audience as Slyveon posed, her ribbons wiggling happily and the gems around her ribbon around her neck sparkling.

“Showing off her pokemon in such a way made a great performance” Mr. Contesta states.

“Remarkable!” Mr. Sukizo states.

“And an awesome balance of showing off the strength of her pokemon and the beauty that her pokemon has!” Nurse Joy states as Harmony curtsied her Sylveon rushing over and wrapping her ribbon feelers around her happily making her giggle.

“Thank you so much!” she says as they walk off the stage, Ash was right after her, followed by Dawn.

“Wow, my heart was beating like a giant base drum up there, glad it all went so quick,” Dawn says as she meets back up with Harmony, Brock, and Ash. 

“You did amazing Dawn, I think the judges like it a lot,” Harmony says encouragingly. 

“Dawn you were awesome!” Ash says.

“You should be feeling pretty good.” Brock states.

Dawn sighs and falls to her knees in relief, “I guess I should be, but…”

“Dawn are you okay?” Ash asks worried.

Dawn starts giggling, “I’m just messing with you! I guess I’m just finally relieved that it’s over,” she points out as Zoey moves to help her up.

“Oh! Hi Zoey!”

“It’s a little too soon to be relieved yet though isn’t it?” Zoey points out, “We still have to meet in the finals don’t we?”

“Not if I get there first.” Harmony teases, “I can’t wait to hopefully battle you, Zoey,” she grins.

“And now it’s time for the judges’ results!” Mariam says on screen and everyone turns to look at it. “So here are the coordinators who are moving along to the next round!”


	8. Arrival of a Rival

“The eight coordinators moving on to the next rounds contest battle are…” Marian says pointing to the big screen as the pictures pop up. With Harmony, Ash, Dawn, and Zoey’s face on four of them. “These lucky eight!”

“Yes! Sylveon we did it!” Harmony cheers squatting down to hug her pokemon kissing her head gently. “Only have to get through three more people.” she murmurs softly, “Then we get our first Sinnoh Region ribbon,” she states as her Rotom phone buzzes and flies out.

“Message from Dragon King! Message from CharmeLEON!” her Rotom states making her grin, “Guess our best mates are watching it too! And it’s like early in the morning for them.” she murmurs looking at them congratulating her and wishing her the best of luck. 

Once they announced that they started to announce who they were up against. With Harmony matching up against Jessie, who looked oddly familiar to Harmony for some reason but she couldn’t put her finger on it just that moment. Zoey against Ash, and Dawn against some random guy. 

“Well I wish you all the best of luck!” she says.

Harmony ended up going up first and wasn’t surprised to make quick work of Jessalina’s points. Having decided to use Sylveon once more was easy as her pokemon gracefully evaded most if not all of her pokemon’s attacks making her grin and curtsy when the round was over, there was even two minutes still on the clock. 

“Thank you so much Sylveon, you did fantastically!” she coos, tossing up a treat for her pokemon once they got back. “Good luck Ash! I hope you have fun and win!” she says high fiving him as he moved to enter for his battle with Zoey.

It didn’t end well, Aipom lost, and while Ash was giving him food and sitting off to the side.

“That was one of the most exciting battles I’ve ever seen! My heart was beating so fast!” Dawn says grinning.

“Yeah, but if you ask me don’t you think things got a bit wild?” Brock points out.

“You kind of went into battle mode rather than contest battle mode Ash.” Harmony points out. 

“Yeah you two are right, I totally forgot about makings sure my moves were looking good,” Ash says sheepishly as Aipom dug into her food.

However, he was quickly brought down when Zoey seemed to come towards him with a bit of anger in her eyes.

“Hi Zoey,” Dawn says happily.

“Congratulations on your win, and good luck in the next round,” Ash says holding his hand out only for Zoey to not take it.

“That last focus punch, it was so powerful I froze in my tracks,” Zoey admits.

“Huh? Yeah? I guess I was just concentrating so hard” Ash says sheepishly.

“If time hadn’t run out when it did, I’m sure you would have beaten me.” Zoey points out with a smile on her face shaking Ash’s hand finally, “Thanks for a great battle. Still, if you don’t mind me saying I don’t think a contest battle is where you shine.”

“Yeah guess I just had to try it, but I know you’re right,” Ash says with a chuckle.

“Hey get this, Ash entered the contest because Aipom wanted to take a shot!” Dawn points out.

“Aipom?” Zoey questions confused.

“That’s the truth alright,” Ash says with a grin looking down at his pokemon.

“Hmm, I know what to do! Dawn, you raise Aipom!” Zoey says making the others freeze. 

“You know she might be onto something, but it’s too early to say, Aipom has a love of both so we’d have to see if she’d want to do it more so than battling.” Harmony points out.

As Dawn made it to the second round and so did the other coordinator it was down to Harmony, Zoey, Dawn, and the other trainer. The match-ups shocked the three girls. “Woah...guess it’s not the final round you’ll meet,” she says softly to Zoey and Dawn, who were up against each other. “I guess I’ll see one of you in the finals though!” she says determinedly.

It was that determination of Harmony and Sylveon that they made it to the final round but going up against Zoey as Dawn had lost in the last few seconds of her battle with the girl.

“Don’t think we’ll go easy on you Zoey! May the best win!” Harmony states with a grin as the battle starts.

It was tough to get through, but Sylveon prevailed, using Glameows Shadow Claw and a thunderbolt to her advantage being able to turn it against Zoeyy’s pokemon by using Moonblast to create sparkles in the air which helped bring about Sylveon’s inner beauty.

“And that’s it time’s up! And that means the winner is Harmony! Congratulations on your victory!” Mariam says making Harmony gasp and runs over to Sylveon.

“We did it! We won our first ribbon little love!” she whispers giggling as Sylveon’s ribbon feelers wrapped around her in excitement.

Soon they were being awarded their ribbon, “Let’s give a big hand to Harmony as she receives the Jubilife Ribbon!” Mariam says as Harmony grins taking hold of it showing it to Sylveon before showing the camera, a huge smile on her face.

“One down four to go!” she says happily as the crowd cheers her on.

Later that evening Harmony happily placed her ribbon in the case she had been given after staring at it. “Perfect, now I just need to keep the streak going and win the gym battle.” she points out to Chu, her Pikachu, and Slyveon who was happily munching on her favorite berry.

The group of four had just said bye to Zoey wishing her luck on her next contest along with pointing out that Dawn had another rival besides Harmony.

“Now onto the gym!” Ash says excitedly.

“But we might want to wait until morning, that way we don’t have to set up camp in the dark.” Harmony points out, “And I don’t know about you but after all that excitement I am kinda hungry” 

As soon as she said that Ash’s stomach growled and he laughed sheepishly, “You know you might be right Harmony….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!


	9. To Oreburg City We Go!

On their way towards the first gym in Oreburgh City, Ash and Starly were practicing by trying to master Ariel Ace, not going as well as hoped Starly had injured itself. With this, the group caught the attention of Rosebay, a woman who monitors the Pokémon that live in the forest that they were currently in. It turned out that lots of Pokémon have been disappearing lately and she wasn’t sure why, but it doesn't take long for the group to decide they should help her out.

In helping Rosebay they discovered that as usual, Team Rocket was up to no good, capturing pokemon via a big net in the Valley Path, an area in which the Flying-type Pokémon often pass through. Once it was found out that Team Rocket was behind it it was also discovered that Brock's Bonsly can use Mimic to send their Pokémon's moves right back at them. Then Starly evolved into Staravia and was able to pull off a terrific Aerial Ace sending Team Rocket blasting off again.

“That was incredible Staravia!” Harmony pipes up gently petting the flying-types head as it had landed on the ground in front of them in happiness. “You finally got that down, it should help with everything in the next gym if you plan to use Staravia that is.” Harmony points out “After all, it is a Rock-type gym..”

“We’ll have to see. But either way that was awesome Staravia!” Ash says happily at his pokemon.

“I’ve got to see this!” Dawn says, pulling her Pokedex out and showing it at Staravia.

Staravia the starling Pokemon, Staravia flies over forest and fields and travels in large flocks

“Staravia thanks so much! Now the pokemon that live in the forest are safe!” Rosebay says leaning down to look at Staravia better.

“What a team! We’ve got a Staravia now! Get ready for big wins.” Ash says happily throwing his fist in the air as Pikachu cheers along with him.

_____________________

The following day on the road to Oreburgh city the group of four were coming across the mountains that separated them from the city. It was when they were close to a Pokemon Center that they ran into Nurse Joy. As well as a wounded and scared Nuzleaf who was getting ready to attack Nurse Joy out of that fear.

Brock was able to take control of the situation allowing for the Nuleaf to start trusting him, with the help of Bonsly of course. Agreeing to take Nuzleaf back to the other side of the forest the group set out.

After walking or a bit they got stopped by two campers and their Shiftry but to Harmony, they looked suspiciously familiar. It was confirmed when Dawn’s Pokedex stated it was a Meowth instead.

“I thought that Shiftry was a bit small, they’re usually much taller than that…” Harmony muses her eyes narrowing, “And we know the only Meowth that can talk is Team Rockets!”

With Team Rocket doing their motto once more Harmony groaned in frustration moving closer towards them wanting to give them a piece of her mind when James had shot a net at Bonsly and caught Bonsly and the Nuzleaf. 

This led Brock to race after grabbing hold of the net. When Harmony and Ash tried to help out with Staravia and Cinders, the Cinderace Jessie had let Seviper out using haze allowing them to escape.

“Oh, what are we going to do now?” Dawn says with a frown, her eyes showing worry.

“Well, we head the same direction they were headed and hope that we can find them. Ash, you can have Staravia fly high to get a better view. And I kinda wish I had Hatterene, that’d be easier, she’d be able to figure out where they went and teleport us.” she says with a sigh. “Alright, team let’s head out!”

It was a while later when Staravia landed on a tree ahead of them.

“Any luck Staravia?” Ash asks his pokemon, sadly shaking its head.

“Well if Staravia can’t find Brock that our best bet is to try and find where the balloon went down.” Harmony points out., “He’s got to be somewhere around there.”

While on their way following the trail a loud explosion shook around the forest.

“That’s got to be Team Rocket and Brock! Maybe he got loose and was able to have Corogun help!” Harmony says moving to grab Ash and Dawn’s hands tugging them, “Come on let’s go!”

Catching up with Brock mid-battle between Team Rocket was both a relief and annoyance to Harmony.

“You know if you guys did something I don’t know is productive you probably would be better off than chasing us around!” she yells out.

“Wait is that..?” Dawn says getting her Pokedex out having noticed Sudowoodo first.

Sudowoodo the imitation pokemon, disguised as a tree it is the evolved form of Bonsly.

“Bonsly must have evolved!” Harmony and Dawn say joyously.

“We can take it from here Brock!” Ash says wanting to get in on the fight.

Brock shakes his head, “Sudowoodo and I can handle this, but thanks, Ash. This is the first battle that Sudowoodo has had since it evolved no way are we backing down.”

“Then go for it!” Harmony cheers Chu, cheering along with her as Sudowoodo fought off Carnivine winning the battle only for Team Rocket to not happily take the loss they threw out the rest of their pokemon, Dustox, and Cacnea. 

Before Harmony and Ash could get their Pikachu’s in a Shiftry had appeared, making the Nuzleaf happy. 

“That’s got to be the leader.” Harmony whispers as Team Rocket once again attempted to get away taking the Nuzleaf with it, which was their big mistake as the Shiftry went on attack mode attacking them getting the Nuzleaf back safely on the ground.

“‘Kay! Pikachu!”

“Chu!” 

“Thunderbolt!” Harmony and Ash call out together pointing at the Wobbuffet balloon, which exploded on impact.

After the mess with Nuzleaf, the group of four were finally at the mountain they had to get over in order to get to Oreburgh City.

_____________________

It only took a day to get over the mountain and once in Oreburgh City Harmony and Ash had a race to see who could get to the gym first.

“Ha! I got here first!” Ash cheers, “That means I get to battle the gym leader first!”

“Aww, I wanted to go first.” Harmony pouts out. “And I have a good guess of who I want to use! I just switched out some pokemon that you’ll meet later at the Pokemon Center! I guess that means I’ll have to wait to show you.”

It was then they saw Paul walk out of the gym. “Oh, hi Paul.” Harmony tries to be nice, but he seems to roll his eyes as Ash also starts talking to him.

After learning that the gym leader was not there Harmony and Ash were both given a badge case by Ian the person who helped with the pokemon when Ash asked where Roark was learning he was at the mine.

“You mean there’s a chance to find fossil pokemon there?” Harmony says, her eyes widening with excitement. “We have got to go there now!” she squeals, grabbing Ash by his arm and tugging him away in pure excitement. 

When they got there she threw her Pokeball out in the air. “Draco come on out!” she calls out her Dracozolt appearing right before them, “Let’s see if we can find some fossil pokemon for you to befriend!” she says leaning down to gently pat the pokemon’s head. 

“Woah! What’s that Pokemon?” Ash and Dawn ask.

“This is Dracozolt, he’s a fossil pokemon from Galar, though don’t quote me on it as the only reason he’s in my care is because he really shouldn’t exist, he’s two different pokemon and Galar isn’t the best when it comes to reviving fossils...we’ve tried other regions to see if they’d give tips on it but so far no good.” Harmony explains. “We have top halves and bottom halves of fossils apparently. And I’ve got two of the fossil pokemon as they’re electric dual types, but this guy can be okay in warmer weather, the other one Arcticzolt is always cold I have to have her top half in a sweater to keep her from freezing solid.” 

“You’ll learn that Galar isn’t the best in everything. I think other regions shine with fossils. So we try to learn what we can when we visit other places that have these sorts of things.” she explains as they turned to look away from where a commotion was happening with what appeared to be Roark and a fossil.

“Let’s go check it out!” she says as she goes to talk with the gym leader. Only to be shot down as he was having a conversation with the fossil. 

Harmony grins a bit, “Really you can tell what they were like?” she says, “Are you going to reanimate it too?” she asks, her eyes widening. “Wouldn’t that be cool to see Draco?” she says her pokemon bobbing its head cheering softly, which caught Roark’s eye. 

“Oh wow, I’ve never seen a pokemon like that before.”

“He’s a fossil pokemon from Galar. Er well, he’s two fossils mashed together? Again we try to figure it out through seeing other fossils be reanimated, that way it might help get a better look into stopping pokemon that aren’t meant to be created. But we really wanted to talk with you about the gym battles?” she says excitedly.

“Ah, so I’ve got two trainers to battle,” Roark responds

“Three! I want a battle too!” Ash says next to Harmony Pikachu nodding in agreement.

“Right then shall we head back?”

It was there they met back up with Paul who had his battle with Roark, and of course, Paul shocked quite a few of them with his strategy.

It got Harmony thinking as she went up to Roark, “Is tomorrow going to work for our battle or do you think they’ll be too tired after Ash’s?” she asks him, “You Pokemon probably want to rest before battling me and my pokemon.” she tells him a grin on her face, “Right Draco?” she states her Dracoolt cheering happily.

“Of course, that might work out.”

From across the way, Paul was scoffing.

"What's so funny?"

"That you want me to watch you lose," Pauls says bluntly.

"What!?" Ash cries out upset.

"Alright! Time out!" Dawn cries out.

“You’ve already battled Ash once, why not stay and watch his battle?” Dawn tries to get Paul to agree.

Paul stared at Dawn for a bit as if trying to figure something out.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Who are you?” Paul replies which was the wrong thing to say as she got rather upset about that, so much so that Brock and Harmony had to restrain her from giving Paul a sky uppercut.

“So are you going to stay and watch my battle?” Ash asks Paul who is ready to scoff which set Dawn off into a tirade when he refused to say he had met her as well.

“Well then it’s settled, Paul will watch and Ash goes first with Harmony following hopefully. If not the day after.” Brock says trying to mediate the issue.

“Right.”

“And I’ll show you a whole new style of battling!” Ash says still rather upset about how Paul was training his pokemon and wanted to prove him right.

_____________________

The following day didn’t go as Ash had wanted it to go and Harmony felt bad that he had lost after his pokemon gave it their all. Especially after Paul’s remarks about Ash being pathetic. 

“I’m sorry Ash,” Harmony says softly, I’m sure you’ll win next time, sometimes overestimating is what causes you to lose, plus with Paul being there the pressure was on. I made some curry if you’re up for it?” she offers, “And not the spicy curry that you all couldn’t handle, this is a more sweet apple curry” she says setting the plate in front of him making sure to not get it on his notes. Seems he was being more strategical for his rematch. 

“Huh? Oh thanks, Harmony, guess I forgot what time it was…” Ash mutters.

“If you want you can go train tomorrow, I can do my gym battle by myself, it really won’t be a bother if you would rather train.” she tells him, “Honestly I’d rather you try and train as I doubt any of my strategies would work. I’m not using Chu at all. I’m using Draco, my Dracozolt, Hatterene, and my Vaporeon Bubbles who I just got back from one of my water-type trainer friends, who needed her for a few modeling shots.” she explains. “You won’t miss that much if you train,” she tells him, earning a nod as Ash listens.

“You’re probably right, thanks!” Ash says a smile forming on his face.

“No problem, besides it’s not like you will miss every gym battle I have, after all, if we keep racing towards gyms I’m sure to beat you and be able to go first eventually.” she teases, “Come on Chu, I’ve got spicy curry for you and the others,” she says her Pikachu cheering happily and racing to jump on her shoulder. 


	10. Wild in the Streets and Gym Battles!

Just as they had discussed, Harmony and Ash parted their ways, one to go get their gym badge the other to go train. Dawn and Brock decided to tag along with Ash with Dawn saying she wanted to train as well. They wished Harmony luck on her gym battle and she nodded waving them off.

Upon reaching the gym Harmony was greeted with Roark who was clearly ready for her battle against him. 

“Hi Roark! Ready to have a battle?” she asks with a wide grin Chu jumping off her shoulder and rushing to sit along the side-lines cheering happily. “And that one is ready to cheer us on!” she says.

“Ready as ever,” Roark says with a grin as the two go to their respective sides.

Harmony flew through her gym battle, using Draco the Dracozolt to take down Onix and nearly knock out Geodude before having to switch to Hatterne to confuse the poor Geodude by teleporting everywhere making it dizzy and easy to land an attack. When it came to Cranidos Harmony struggled a bit calling back Hatterene as she could tell her fairy pokemon was just getting too tired and didn’t want her overworking herself. Sending out Bubbles the Vaporeon was the best part as she was easily able to turn the battle around. Freezing the floor of the gym with ice beam making it easier for Vaporeon to slide around as if skating, a contest technique Harmony had used before, and using hail to make it harder for Cranidos to see the liquidation coming straight for it. 

“You did it Bubbles!” Harmony cheers rushing onto the field once the ref called it only to slip and fall on her bum causing her to laugh as the Vaporeon rushed to her side purring and licking her cheek. “I’m okay! Thank you so much” she says carefully getting up this time to go shake Roark’s hand. “Thank you so much Roark! I nearly thought you had us after Hatterene got really tired.” 

“And thank you for such a great battle. You were strong, and I was weak. That's all there is. According to Pokémon League rules, I have to give you our Gym Badge since you've beaten me, the Leader. Here's your official Pokémon League Coal Badge.” Roark says as he holds out a badge to her in the cushioned case. 

“Awesome! We just got the Coal Badge!” Harmony cheers striking her pose she had come up with, similar to Leon’s Charizard one, but with her having a Blastoise pose. 

“Thank you so much Roark! Now just to go find the others, I think they said they were going to train at the mines.” Harmony says rubbing Chu’s head, having returned her other pokemon after their pose.

“I was just going to head there myself, I could walk with you there?” Roark suggests.

“Sure that’d be great!” Harmony says with a grin.

Spotting Ash and Brock was easy among the rocks. 

“Seems like you’re working hard!” Harmony chimes in, Chu hopping off to run and tell Pikachu all about the battle.

“Hey Harmony! Hey Roark!” Ash says a smile on his lips, “Does this mean you won?” he asks.

“Oh yeah! He nearly got me though, if it wasn’t for Bubbles and using some contests maneuvers I think we could have lost.” Harmony admits.

“Rock as far as the eye can see. It is a great way to get you ready for another battle in my gym.” Roark comments to Ash pulling his attention back onto the gym leader.

“And you can be sure we are working super hard,” Ash tells him.

“Just don’t work too hard, you simply figure out a strategy that suits you and your pokemon as well,” Roark tells Ash.

“Uh Okay. But I was just thinking about the way you fought Paul!”

“Hang on a sec, this has been eating at me since our last battle. Just who is it you’re trying to beat anyway?”

“Oh that! Uh…” Ash says before realizing what exactly Roark meant.

“Right, it’s understandable for you to be concerned about Paul, but it’s not Pual you’re gonna be battling with, it’s me right?” Roark points out.

“Right! I hear ya!” Ash says,

“Good, you’ll be fine. And I’ve got some serious digging to do.”

“What now?” Ash asks confused.

“Looking for more fossils right?” Harmony asks with a grin on her face. “Especially after a loss with me!”

“Right, I’ve always loved ancient pokemon. Like that!” Roark says moving aside a small stone to reveal a fossil. “I found that Cranidos fossil when I was just a kid, and so I had to have it restored,” he tells the group

“Like how Harmony’s Dracozolt was restored?” Ash asks with wide eyes.

“Exactly, it was an amazing thing to restore it and other pokemon fossils.” Roark explains as he inspects the fossil, “thing is Cranidos was the first pokemon we used it on.”

“Awesome! Amazing what science can do!” Ash says completely intrigued

“Yeah, but these fossils are more amazing. You see pokemon have been changing at a process that has been taking place over millions of years to get to this point.” Roark says as he looks down at his palm that held the fossil. “It’s almost as if these fossils have come back to tell me about their ancient secrets. Fossils as are beautiful as it gets. Truly there is nothing more beautiful than these,” Roark tells the group.

In the distance Ian calls out, “Roark!” with panic lacing their voice.

“Huh?”

“Something terrible has happened,” Ian tells Roark 

“What? Tell me!” Roark demands standing back up.

“The ancient pokemon are on a rampage!” Ian tells him.

“What pissed them off to get them enraged?” Harmony questions, “Pokemon don’t go rampage without reason, something must have pissed them off.”

“Right, there’s something off about it,” Roark says agreeing with Harmony. “We better check it out!”

The group rushed off to try and find what was going on, coming across Officer Jenny and the scientists along with the police task force and tanks.

“Hold on! You’ve got to let me handle this!” Roark calls out as he heads to the two fossil pokemon. “Cranidos will help with this!”

“Draco can help too,” Harmony says getting her Pokeball out and making it bigger.

“Alright, Harmony, and I will distract them while you look or an opening, then you take them both down!” Roark commands the teens.

“Right!” they shout out, getting the plan into motion.

‘Cranidos flamethrower!” Roark calls out.

“Draco Dragon Pulse!” Harmony calls out.

Unfortunately, the distraction does not work and Armaldo and Kabutops go to attack Sudowoodo and Pikachu.

“Cranidos zen headbutt!” Roark calls out.

“And Draco use Wild charge at Kubutops!” Harmony calls out.

“Yeah that’s it!” Roark cheers as the pokemon start to get affected only or our arms to shoot out around the fossil pokemon capturing them.

“Hahaha you can never get too much of an old thing!” The group hears.

“Oh, no...is that...are they really that much of dunderheads to steal that?” Harmony mutters shaking her head. 

“No way!”

“The fossil restorer!” The scientist shouts.

Listen, is that a voice I hear?  
It's speaking to me loud and clear.  
On the wind!  
Past the stars!  
In your ear!  
Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!  
Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!  
A rose by any other name is just as sweet...  
When everything's worse, our work is complete!  
Jessie!  
James!  
And Meowth, now that's a name.  
Putting the do-gooders in their place!  
We're Team Rocket!  
IN YOUR FACE!

“So you’re the ones behind this awful crime!” Officer Jenny shouts.

“Return the machine and pokemon at once!” the scientist demands.

Jessie scoffs, “Like that’s ever going to happen.”

“We’ve got a lot of restoring to do.” James says.

“And we’re gonna make an army of the baddest bunch of ancient bullies you ever saw!”

“Oh no your not! Ready Chu?” Harmony growls out.

“Ready Pikachu?” Ash asks and the two electric mice stand in a battle stance.

“Ash, Harmony wait!” Roark says.

“Huh?”

“We’ve got to be careful about how we do this. If not Armoldo, Kabutops, and the fossil restorer could be badly damaged.” Roark points out causing Harmony to groan.

“And too expensive to fix, man that ruins how we were gonna go about this,” she says with a huff.

Team Rocket boasts about it but just then a loud cry came from the sky. “Is that an Aerodactyl?” Harmony asks with wide eyes.

Before someone could answer her the Aerodactly let off a hyper beam knocking Team Rocket’s robot off onto it’s side and releasing the pokemon in the metal hands clutches. This gave the scientists a chance to return the two fossil pokemon while Harmony moved a bit to try and get Draco, which did not please the Aerodactly one bit as it loaded on a Giga Impact. 

“Bad idea! Bad idea!” Harmony cries out frozen to her spot which was wrapped around her pokemon.

“Harmony!” Ash calls out horrified.

It was then that Cranidos stepped in front of the two with the command of Roark, “Cranidos intercept it!” 

It couldn’t hold it getting pushed back along with the other and it exploded causing the humans to fly through the air and the Areodactly to get even more pissed off firing hyper beams around the one heading straight for Ash and Harmony who had been covering their pokemon. As soon as the impact would have hit them an ice beam and bubble beam shot out causing ti to not touch them.

“Hey Ash! Harmony! Are you two okay1?” Dawn cries out, Buneary and Piplup by her side as they ran towards them.

“We are thanks to you Dawn,” Harmony says with a sigh of relief.

“We’ll take care of this now!” Dawn says her pokemon and her standing in front of Harmony and Ash with a look of determination.

Areodactly went for another Giga Impact, “Another Giga Impact!?” Harmony cries out.

“No problem, watch this! Piplup, Buneary, let’s go!” Dawn calls out her pokemon getting in position as Areodactly got closer, “Not yet...just a little more time...Okay do it now!” 

The two pokemon jump in the air before making themselves spin, causing them to dodge the move and were able to quickly tackle in via getting on it’s back.

“That’s great! Go Pokeball!” the scientist says tossing it at the Areodactly catching it. Buneary picks up the ball handing it to the scientist.

“Thank you. We’re all safe now, thank you.” He says to Dawn.

“You’re welcome” Dawn says happily.

“Oh yes, now or them,” Roark says turning to Team Rocket who was trying to upright their mecha.

“Tough luck losers,” Roark says stepping with Cranidos by his side as Team Rocket noticed what they missed. “Now we’d like our machine if you don’t mind,” Roark says sarcastically.

Team Rocket tried to flee, “Stop! Cranidos go!” Roark calls out his pokemon racing after them only to get caught in a net that Team Rocket shot out.

“Oh no!” Harmony cries out as the group tries to run after it to help Cranidos.

“They’re not going to make fools out of us! Are you going to let them win?” Roark calls out to Cranidos.

With that Cranidos was enveloped by a white light getting larger until it was double the size.

“Woah! Cranidos evolved!” Ash says with wide eyes.

“Yes! Let’s go Rampardos!” Roark calls out in excitement as the newly evolved Rampardos rushes faster towards Team Rocket, abling to just rip the machine from the robot they had and is able to place it aside before using Zen Headbutt causing Team Rocket to blast off once more.

“Amazing!” 

“And so powerful!” Dawn says pulling her Pokedex out.

Rampardos the head budge pokemon, and the evolved form of Cranidos. Its headbutt attack is so powerful that it can pulverize even the sturdiest of objects in just one hit.

“Thank you Rampardos, thanks to you we have our machine back.” the scientist says.

Officer Jenny thanks them too which causes Brock to go all lovey-dovey once more until Crogunk poison jabs him.

“Hey Roark, can we please have another battle tomorrow? I’d love to go against your Rampardos” Ash asks as he turns to Roark.

“Oh? Have you thought about what strategy you want to use?”

“Yeah”

“Okay. Then you can have the honor of being Rampardos’ premiere opponent.”

“Really wow cool thanks!”

“Dawn do you think you could help me train a little bit?” Ash asks making Harmony grin.

“I kind of want to train a bit too, that move you used was pretty cool Dawn I wouldn’t have thought of something like that,” Harmony says praising her friend.

“Sure it’ll be great training for me as well,” Dawn admits.

“Thanks that’s great! You know what, after all, that I know I’m going to get that badge!”

“Alright you just give it all you got!” Roark responds to Ash.

The next day Ash successfully took Roark down all thanks to training with Dawn and using the spinning technique to his advantage. 

Harmony and Dawn were dressed up in cheerleading outfits, along with Chu, Buneary, and Piplup helping out being cheerleaders for him.

“He really did it!” Harmony cheers waving her pom-pos around happily for Ash’s victory. “I haven’t seen this great of a battle in a while, especially one so close!”

“The way you adapted quickly to changing conditions was just amazing.” Roark complements Ash after they were outside the gym. 

Harmony and Dawn had changed back into their regular clothes and were grinning as Ash got the badge.

“So here’s proof of your victory at Oreburgh City Gym. The Coal Badge,” Roark says holding out the tray that held the badge.

“Wow! Thank you so much Roark!” Ash says with wide eyes grabbing the badge and holding it up doing his pose. “Alright! We just got the Coal badge!”

“Now we can start heading towards the next contest!” Dawn says happily, “Which is in Floaroma Town!” she says excitedly.

“I can’t wait, but I’m not sure I want to compete, usually I give a bit more time between them, but we’ll have to see, isn’t it on the way to Eterna City? I thought there was a gym there?” Harmony asks.

“There is one there, and it would be the closest gym from mine Harmony,” Roark says with a nod.

“Awesome! Thanks so much, Roark! Then it’s settled, we’ll go to Floaroma Town and then after that to Eterna City!” Harmony says as Brock nods. 

“If we start now we’ll have enough daylight to get at least started going. If the map is right there should be a clearing we should reach easily by nightfall.” Brock says making Harmony grin.

“Great, then we better get going! Bye!” she says grabbing Ash and Dawn’s wrists tugging them off towards the exit of town laughing.


	11. Trouble Follows Us Everywhere

“Oh my she’s cute! I’m gonna catch her!” Harmony cried out as the group had stopped for a break, “Ash look at the Shinx!” she says shaking his arm a bit in excitement, “C’mon Chu! Let’s go make a new friend!” she cries out, her Pikachu darting after her as they crept closer to the pokemon who was just sunbathing. 

“Hi Shinx, I’m Harmony and this is my partner Chu,” she says softly grabbing a berry from her bag to offer it to the semi-wary pokemon.

The Shinx slowly crept up taking the berry before going little ways away from her. “See? That’s good, there’s more where that came from. I even have other sweet treats in my bag. Do you want to battle? Or would you like to join our team, our goal is to become the best pokemon trainer across all regions, and be a top coordinator in every region that has contests. Then when we reach that we might challenge my best mate, Leon, he’s the World Champion right now.” Harmony babbles on to the Shinx who slowly made it’s way back to her, Chu talking with it as well to coax it into Harmony’s lap where she gave it gentle pets and scratches earning happy purrs from the pokemon. 

Harmony pulled out a Pokeball offering it to Shinx who nodded it’s head tapping its nose to the ball and getting sucked in. “Awesome! We just got a new friend! Come on out Shinx!” Harmony calls out the Shinx. “Now just a name...if you were male I’d say Lightning, but I don’t think that will suit you...how about Lyn? I think it’s some ancient word meaning lighting” (Danish but Pokemon world doesn’t have that) Harmony says earning a grin and nod from the Shinx. “Lyn it is then!”

It was then Harmony heard a commotion from across the field where it looked to be Ash, Brock, and Dawn being lit up by a blue eclectic move. “Oh...uh-oh that doesn’t look good, let’s go Chu and Lyn!” she cries out rushing to her friend’s aid.

“Is everything okay!?” Harmony cries out, Lyn in her arms while Chu rested on her shoulder, “We saw the huge electrical explosion. Oh Dan you caught a pokemon! That’s great!” Harmony says noticing Dawn had a Pokeball in her hand and was excited.

“And you caught a Shinx! That’s where you went off to, guess we both got distracted by pokemon.” Dawn teases. 

“Yeah for sure, I go ga-ga for electric and water types..” Harmony says sheepishly. “Now is it lunchtime yet?”

“Sure is,” Brock says earning a cheer from the other three teens.

________________

While trying to train with Pachirisu Dawn slowly gave up and ended up releasing the pokemon no matter how many times Harmony tried to tell her that there is a learning curve with every new pokemon, some take longer than others she wouldn’t listen. 

Then Team Rocket attempted to catch Pachirisu for themselves which allowed for Dawn to finally admit she still cared for and wanted to train the little electric squirrel and everything worked out in the end.

“I told you Pachirisu was better with you Dawn, she just needs a bit of training and a whole lot of patience.” Harmony tells her friend, “I’m sure she’ll be great for contests, she looks like she can be a great asset to your team.” 

“Thanks, Harmony, I’m just so happy now!” Dawn replied with a happy squeal.

________________

It was on the way to Floaroma Town the group ran into someone calling themselves Hunter J who was a patch so to speak selling pokemon off to the highest bidder.

Through all the chaos both Pikachu and Chu had been kidnapped, making Harmony growl and pace around unhappily, Hatterene had come out of her Pokeball because of this and was scanning around. “WHy that piece of Garbodor shite..” Harmony growls under her breath, “When I get my hands on her I’ll destroy that stupid machine on her wrist and make sure she doesn’t see the light of day.” 

“Harmony you’ve got to calm down.” Dawn tries.

“I AM VERY CALM!” Harmony yells out only to flinch as her Hatterene whacks her, “Ouch! That hurt!” she cries out to her pokemon who huffs giving her a look which made Harmony pause, “Okay you’re right, I’m sorry Dawn I’m just stressed out because of this, I didn’t mean to yell. I just. I want Chu back…” she whimpers. 

It was with the help of the lady’s Kirlia that they were able to determine where Hunter J would be next and Harmony hums, “Hatterene can teleport us onto there, but it’d be very risky and they might take notice that we’re there suddenly. Especially since we don’t know what room the pokemon are being kept. It has a chance of working really well though right?” she whispers nodding at her pokemon.

The plan went as one would expect it to, terribly wrong. But with Harmony and Ash rushing up and grabbing hold of the bottom of the truck, they ran into Team Rocket who in the end actually helped out in some way to get the pokemon free from J even after Hunter J and her crew went after them. 

Once reunited with their pokemon the unthinkable happened, it seemed that Hunter J was willing to let go of that part of her invisible ship not wanting to get caught.

What happened next was a flurry of emotions around Harmony as Hatterene and Gardivor used Teleport to get everyone to safety when Hunter J released the section of the ship they were all in.   
“Okay, I really hate her...Like really, and I won’t stand, if we run into her another time I won’t hold back, the first thing we’ll destroy is that machine so she can’t dish out her shots…” Harmony grumbles holding Chu close to her, “And I never want you to ever leave me again, that was scary scarier than Team Rocket’s stuff.” she mutters. “She better hope that Karma comes after her first than I do...otherwise I won’t hold back any of my team, especially Hatterne who could easily take that Salamence down...” 

________________

Having to make a stop through Jubilife City when they were stopped and asked about evolving pokemon and learned of the B button league. 

“Well it really depends on the pokemon, plenty of my pokemon have evolved because they chose to. Others took years to evolve or Chu here didn’t want to at all.” Harmony points out to Hailey, who was the leader of the B button group, rubbing her Pikachu’s head as it cooed.

“I heard you had a really strong Feebas though, I’m quite surprised when I got to mine she did everything she could to point out she wanted to evolve, so much so that every time we’d train in the lake she’d bring back Prism Scale until I had over twenty of them. “ Harmony explains. “I might bring her to contests, but she does better with a double performance along with Chu or my Lanturn.” she explains “But I’d love to see you battle.” 

That was what they did, Dawn and Piplup verse Oralie and Magikarp, and Oralie won rather easily against Piplup, showing off how strong it was even without evolving.

Following Dawn, Ash wanted to try it out as well battling with Pikachu to see if they could win against Magikarp. They decided it was a tie making Harmony grin. “I really enjoyed that, it really was pretty interesting to see how much effort you put into training your pokemon Oralie, Magikarp sure is strong.” 

It was then the C leaders spoke up about something about taking a cover shot-making Harmony frown in confusion turning to look at them only to notice they weren’t setting up a shot at all, “Hey wait you’re not supposed to do that!” she called out getting everyone else’s attention.

Again Harmony suspicion on the two was right as they revealed themselves to be Team Rocket

Listen, is that a voice I hear?  
It's speaking to me loud and clear.  
On the wind!  
Past the stars!  
In your ear!  
Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!  
Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!  
A rose by any other name is just as sweet...  
When everything's worse, our work is complete!  
Jessie!  
James!  
And Meowth, now that's a name.  
Putting the do-gooders in their place!  
We're Team Rocket!  
And we’re   
IN YOUR FACE!

As Team Rocket went to get away the group chased after them.

“Come back here!” 

“Bring Feebas and Magikarp back!”

“Staravia you go get them!” Ash called out tossing his Pokeball into the air.

Staravia took off and eventually the group had made it into the nearby forest when Staravia found them again only to lead them to where Team Rocket was hiding a cabin near a stream.

“Alright Team Rocket..huh!?” Ash starts to say only to gasp at what was in front of them a huge mech.

As Team Rocket explained their evolution machine Harmony scoffed, “You do realize that Feebas can’t evolve that way right? It needs specific requirements to evolve and I’m sure Oralie has taken precautions on her Magikarp, Everstones are a thing you know?” she points out. 

Of course, Team Rocket refused to believe what Harmony was saying which frustrated Ash as he made Pikachu try and throw a thunderbolt at them only to get caught itself.

“Why you!” Ash cries out rushing towards them only for a cage to drop on the humans. 

Soon turning the machine on lowering Magikarp into it Harmony winced as the machine seemed to be doing something, but she wasn’t sure what it really was doing.

“Nooow Gyarados!” Jessie cheers only for Magikarp to fall back through the machine flopping about.

They tried it again and it still failed, so they tried to do it with Pikachu, letting it into the machine.

“You’re about to witness first hand how change is good for the soul!” Jessie says as the machine gets all electrical.

“It’s the old Pikachu to Raichu switcheroo!” James says.

“Pikachu no!” Harmony cries out with Ash as Chu whimpers at the thought of something bad happening to her mate.

“Pikachu you’re okay!” Ash says as Pikachu just falls down onto the floor confused about what had happened.

As Jessie, James and Meowth were arguing about whatever had gone wrong, Ash decided to take control, “Pikachu use Iron Tail on the bars!”

Breaking the humans out of the cage Harmony grins, Chu getting in front of her in a battle position. “It’s over guys’ time to give up!”

“Not so fast!”Meowth calls out reading from the book “Listen to this, This unit also doubles as a mecha bot! One-click on the old remote and we’ve..” Meowth pushes it causing a massive explosion to wreck the building throwing everyone away from it.

“Woah it’s true!” Ash says in awe, looking at the giant thing.

However just as Team Rocket was calling victory the bot seemed to start self-destructing.

With the help of Feebas, Magikarp, Chu, and Pikachu they sent Team Rocket blasting off once again.

________________

After saying good-bye to The B button club the group of four made their way into a village that's holding an informal Pokémon Contest where the prize is a year's supply of fruit. Dawn decides to enter and Ash allows for Jessie to use Aipom to compete. Dawn tries to use Pachirisu in it, but its electricity was far too strong and powerful, ending up electrocuting everyone making her second guess herself.

“Hey Dawn, I think you did a really great job, but again I think Pachirisu really needs to get some control over its electricity before you enter her into a real contest. But that’s what training is all about.” Harmony says brightly trying to cheer Dawn up.  
Ash wasn’t doing so well making Harmony worry. “Ash are you okay? I know Aipom seems to be having fun with Jessie, but I think she just really wanted to compete, and Jessie made that possible, plus you know some pokemon and food is a big motivator.” she tries to cheer Ash up, but he still had worry in her eyes. “Please don’t worry too much, Aipom loves you, your her trainer, and she will always care for you more than Team Rocket who’s tried to steal her partners away from her,” she says squeezing his hand gently. “They're gonna announce the finalists, we better hurry back.

Announcing that Jessie and Dawn made it to the finals was nice, Dawn looked far more confident in winning up to that point making Harmony hope that she would win.

Somehow Jessie won though, and Dawn was a bit upset about it, second-guessing herself and wanting to put Pachirisu in a contest. 

And what looks to be like Aipom wanting to leave Ash was really only just wanting the fruit, which she was successfully able to get.

“I told you, Ash! She was just wanting the fruit, are you okay!” Harmony cries out having rushed to his side as he yet again slipped on Nana berry peels. Only to slip on one herself with a cry landing beside him, “Okay...that was not my plan.”

When Team Rocket tried to retaliate Ash had Aipom send a swift their way exploding their balloon and making it rain Nana berries.

“You made Ash worry sick darling.” Harmony murmurs to the monkey pokemon as she hugged it while it offered everyone some fruit. “Don’t scare him like that, we know you love contests, but maybe next time if you really want to, Dawn or I can enter with you. Okay, little one?” she asks petting its head as it grins and nods going off to snatch Ash’s hat playfully.

________________

Team Rocket's latest misguided Pokémon-snatching scheme digs them into a deep hole, deep enough that they accidentally bury their shovels in the head of a very irritated Steelix! 

As the group was walking through Team Rocket bumped into them in the middle of a mission to help a lost Bidoof find its home. 

Somehow they had pissed off a Stelix, which hits Team Rocket with an attack that blasts Meowth into the midst of Harmony, while Jessie and James are off on their own.

The teens run for a nearby waterfall, escaping into a rocky pass that Steelix can't fit into. On the other side is the lost Bidoof's home village, but all the Bidoof are trapped there because they're afraid of Steelix. 

Meowth, Hatrony, Ash, Brock, and Dawn try to calm Steelix and save the village.

The idea of Building stronger walls to keep Steelix out is only a temporary solution. What was really needed was to get the shovels out of Steelix's head. Meowth lured Steelix to another narrow pass where Harmony, Ash, Brock and Dawn were waiting. 

But even then Team Rocket is sent flying by yet another Hyper Beam, the group of teens and the Bidoof together try to get two shovels out.

The last shovel had been still stuck, but once the Bidoof teamed up, they got it out and stopped Steelix from charging into a waterfall.

“See that wasn’t too hard? Gosh, Enraged Pokemon are so hard to calm down, I wish there was a song or something to do that” Harmony muses a bit. “Also Team Rocket gets into the worst of trouble, how would they manage without us helping them sometimes?”

“You know you’re right, too bad we couldn’t just have sat and let them get hurt, the Bidoof really needed our help.”

“Curse us for being good people and wanting to help...and all the thanks we get is them trying to steal our pokemon...” Harmony grumbles.


	12. Chapter 12

While on their way to Floaroma Town towards the next contests, Dawn and Ash were practicing only to be interrupted by some woman.

“Wow, incredible! That was the most amazing thunderbolt! If only I could borrow you for three days. Won’t you please let me do that?” the lady says as she pets Pikachu’s head as she glances up at Ash.

“I would!” Brock says his cheeks turning red making Harmony groan at his reaction.

“I’m sorry but I’m not following?” Ash says confused.

“Of course not, let me explain. I’m Theresa, and just down the road I run a cake shop with my Aunt Abigail.” Theresa explains.

“My names Ash.”

“Hi, I’m Dawn.”

“I’m Harmony!”

“And I’m Brock!” Brock says hearts in his eyes once again causing a commotion with Crogunk coming out and poison jabbing him.

“I wonder where Corgunk takes him…” Ash questions confused.

“Far away from any women that’s for sure.” Harmony mumbles. “Sorry about our friend, he gets a bit love-struck..” she admits with a sigh.

_____________________________

Once they got walking towards the bakery Theresa explained further, “See my Aunt Abigail makes the greatest cakes in the whole world. She’s been making all those cakes for years, with her partner.” Theresa explains giggling, “A Pikachu she named Sugar. But something strange happened recently and Sugar disappeared. Poor Aunt Abigail. And I looked everywhere for Sugar and nothing. So when I saw your Pikachu I thought he could pretend to be Sugar. See?” 

“Pretend?” Ash questions.

“See Aunt Abigail is going to be in a baking competition three days from now. I just know your Pikachu will really help her.”

“But..won’t she be able to tell the difference?” Ash asks glancing at Pikachu. 

“And you’re sure Sugar is a male Pikachu right? Because females have the heart-shape at their tail…” Harmony points out Chu turning a bit to show off her tail which was different than Pikachu’s.

“I’m sure! All Pikachu has to do is scratch it’s head with its tail every once in a while.” Theresa explains.

Pikachu does the movement still confused really what was going on.

“That’s it! That’s what Sugar always does!”

“Then when your Aunt Abigail sees that she’ll really think it’s Sugar!” Brock pipes up.

“Wow, this just might work!” Dawn grins.

“It’s a deal, let’s give it a try!” Ash says nodding in agreement.

“Thank you both! I owe you!” Theresa says happily.

_____________________________

When they got back to the bakery Pikachu played his part earning the trust for Aunt Abigail thinking that it was Sugar, to begin with. Chu was trying to sneak glances at Pikachu through their time at the table and Harmony stroked her head. “It’s only for a couple of days sweetie, he’ll be back with us soon,” she says softly.

After learning that Abigail used Pika-power to roast the berries Ash got that look on his face on wanting to see it, you could tell he was still worried about not being with Pikachu. “I’ll go with you, Ash! I’d love to see it myself, maybe we could use roasted berries in our curry mix, right Chu?”

_____________________________

Upon getting closer to Aunt Abigail and Pikachu there were some unexpected guests nearby.

“Team Rocket!” Harmony growls out, Chu ready to fly off her shoulder to protect her mate.

“Teah whoit?” Theresa asks.

“They’re the bad guys, not the smartest though…” Dawn says to Theresa.

“We gotta go help out Abigail,” Ash says only for Harmony to grab his arm.

“Hold on, we can’t do that Ash,” Harmony points out.

“She’s right, watch this, Aunty can take care of herself,” Theresa says.

Abigail made quick work on Team Rocket, blasting them away rather quickly which shocked the three teens.

“Aunt Abigail! I see you haven’t lost any of your battling skills.” Thresa compliments as the five of them walk out of the bushes.

“Oh dear, were you watching me?” Abigail says nearly laughing.

_____________________________

Walking back towards the bakery Ash asked the question, “So was your Aunt Abigial a pokemon trainer?”

“She competed in the Grand Festival,” Theresa explains.

“That’s awesome!” Harmony and Dawn call out excitedly.

“Thank you, but those things are all ancient history as well,” Abigail points out, “Sugar deserves all the credit for today.” she says as Pikachu rubs his head, “That reminds me, you’re going for the Sinnoh league aren’t you Ash and Harmony?” she asks.

“Yes ma’am we are, and we both plan on trying to win.” Harmony says, “Though I don’t think Ash will beat me.” she teases.

“Our next gym battle is going to be at the Eterna gym!” Ash points out with a wide grin.

“Then would either of you care to battle with me?” Abigail offers and Chu immediately shakes her head.

“I think I’ll pass, but Ash here will!” Harmony says volunteering Ash by pushing him forward. 

“Of course I’ll be working with Sugar.” Abigail points out.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Aunty,” Theresa says concerned.

“Why? I’m sure you’re training hard for your next battle and that’s just what this would be.”

Ash got a look of dread on his face, “Uh...I guess.”

_____________________________

“I mean I guess this is what we get for allowing this to happen.” Ash mumbles 

This made Harmony shrug, “Training is training, you never know you might learn something, I’m surprised you haven’t had these kinds of training battles before?” she says softly, “Is it not common to lend a pokemon to another trainer to battle and practice? My mates and I did it all the time, it gives the pokemon a new way of looking at techniques, especially with people who focus on different types of pokemon.” she tells him softly as they head back towards the back of the bakery to an open part for a battle.

As the battle happened it was sudden when Abigail stopped the match before it could go too far which confused Aipom and Ash.

“I’m impressed you’re strong Aipom, no sense going on since we lost.” Abigail points out making Ash look on in confusion.

“Huh?”

“Ash, I had a feeling about you dear, you’rea good kid, a very good kid,” she explains making everyone look at her in confusion.

“Theresa, thank you for refereeing,” Abigail says happily before turning to Pikachu, “Well then, Sugar shall we go?”

“But Why?” Ash questions.

“You don’t think she knows about Sugar being Ash’s do you?” Harmony asks after Abigail had left. “It is possible, right?”

No one answered her making her sigh.

_____________________________

Of course, that night Ash’s guilt was settling in making Harmony sigh, “If you really want to tell her you can, but like I said I think she knows Ash, that’s why you’re so good, you’re going along with it to make her happy.” Harmony says softly and Ash nods before rushing out to tell her.

“Abigail! I have something I need to say.” Ash admits to Abigail who was sitting with Pikachu on the deck.

“Now let me guess, this is actually your Pikachu Ash. Is that right?” she says and everyone but Harmony gets a shocked face.

“What gave it away?” Harmony asks, “We thought Pikachu was being pretty good at acting. Was it Team Rocket who blew the cover or did you know the whole time?” she asks softly.

Chu thankful the charade was over rushed to Pikachu’s side to nuzzle him her tail wagging slightly as the two sat close once again.

“See, Pikachu did a fine job on these berries, but Sugar never did it exactly the same way.” Abigail points out.

“Well, what do you know,” Ash says almost in awe at that being the fact on how Abigail figured it out.

“To tell you the trust I know why Sugar disappeared,” Abigail admits. “Sugar and I were talking about this year’s bake of and how I wanted to use Asper berries, but Sugar couldn’t crack them open with their thunderbolt,” she points out. “And I asked Sugar to find a way to do so.”

“And then Sugar left,” Theresa says sadly.

“Wait...you wanted Sugar to break them open, but couldn’t as a Pikachu, did you ever think that maybe Sugar went to go train in the forest or perhaps was attempting to figure out a way to get strong by evolving? It’s not uncommon for some pokemon to want to be alone to go try and evolve themselves.” Harmony pipes up. 

“That could be the case, but thank you again for letting me spend the day with your Pikachu Ash, it was a great feeling I got today,” Abigail says smiling.

“Glad to help?” Ash says a bit confused that she wasn’t angry at all.

It was then two large rubber hands shoot out from the distance grabbing Chu and Pikachu o the table.

“Pikachu!” Ash calls out.

“Chu!” Harmony cries out, “Give them back Team Rocket!” she growls out.

“Not you guys again!” Theresa says.

“Pikachu quick thunderbolt!” Ash calls out only or the move to fail, Team Rocket had actually come slightly prepared.

“You’re not getting away again!” Harmony and Ash call out running after and proceeding to jump onto Team Rocket’s car bot.

_____________________________

As Team Rocket drove away with Ash and Harmony holding onto for dear life, Ash called out Staravia, “Staravia wing attack non-stop!” 

“Pip! You try a stream of pecks back here!” Harmony calls out her penguin pokemon as it started pecking into the back of the car bot.

As neither was working Ash tried another tactic, “Staravia ma power Ariel Ace!”

“Pip you try using Bubble Beam!” Harmony cries out.

It was then that Team Rocket took a dive off the cliff causing Ash to end up letting go and Harmony to have to hoist herself up once more to keep being there. “Ash!” she cries out seeing him fall but was unable to grab his hand before he hit the ground as Team Rocket still sped off with her on the back. “Shite…” she grumbles looking at Pip, “Guess e got to get this done ourselves.”

“Okay Pip I want you to try spinning while using Peck, maybe we can do a makeshift drill peck,” Harmony says getting desperate, but at this point, the car bot had stopped and a huge splur of electricity was coming from upfront. “What is that?” she questions. “Woah is that...that’s a Raichu!” she says being able to get off of the bed part and onto the ground holding Pip in her arms.

“Harmony!” Ash calls out rushing to her side before gaping at the look of the thunderbolt.

“It’s coming from the outside!” Dawn points out.

“It’s a Raichu, that’s why Dawn” Harmony points out gesturing to the Raichu.

“Sugar! It is you!” Abigail says happily towards the Raichu.

“Sugar?” Everyone else gasps.

“Sugar evolved into Raichu!?” 

“I said that might be the case!” Harmony says with a grin.

Raichu is able to destroy Team Rocket’s arm by using a focus punch.

“Woah! Now that’s some serious power!” Harmony says in awe.

“Sugar go rescue the Pikachu’s they stole!” Abigail says to Sugar.

Sugar goes using double Focus punch against the bot, eventually breaking a hole into it and easily getting Chu and Pikachu out. 

“Chu! You’re okay!” Harmony cries out rushing to her partner and getting the cage open.

“Sugar let’s do this like old times use thunderbolt!” Abigail calls out and with ease the Raichu uses it exploding the bot and sending Team Rocket flying through the air blasting off again.

_____________________________

The next morning Abigail presented a beautiful and yummy cake to the teens making Harmony grin.

“Looks amazing! I bet Sugar was very helpful in this. It’s surely got to win!” Harmony says happily taking a bite out of her slice.

“Thank you so much, Abigail! And Sugar!” Harmony says.

“I know for sure now I’ll win my next contest!” Dawn says happily and her determination was super high.

“I’m sure you’re going to do great now Dawn.” Harmony says with a nod, “And I still think I’m going to take a small break, I have to plan a bit more and need to switch my team around. I really want to bring my Ampharos back into my team, she’s been helping Professor Elm back in Johto because he was studying shiny pokemon.” Harmony admits. 

“You have an Ampharos? And a Shiny one?” Ash questions.

“Yeah, I actually helped hatch her back on a Mareep Farm, the right place at the right time. I spent a week helping the farm to study a bit about Mareep wool compared to Wooloo wool.

They ended up showing me the nursery where the eggs were and just as we walked in one hatched, that being my Mareep and it imprinted on me, little thing started getting upset when I tried to leave later that week after following me around everywhere I went so they offered me to keep her and train her well.” Harmony explains to her friends. “I’ll have you meet her when we find a pokemon center that I can call to get her sent to me. In the meantime let’s enjoy this yummy cake!”

_____________________________

Once the group of four teens finally reached Floaroma Town and started to explore.

After hearing how the town came to be by a nice elderly lady Dawn spotted another poster next to the Contest one.

“Hey guys look! This says there's going to be a Poffin cooking class today!” Dawn points out.

“Oh that does sound rather interesting, all I’ve seen is how to make Pokepuffs, and I’m not the best at making them.” Harmony says sheepishly. “I may be able to cook, but baking is a whole different thing.”

“Poffin? What’s Poffin?” Ash asks, confused by the two girls in their group's reaction.

“Huh! Don’t tell me you don’t know what Poffins are?” Dawn says with a gasp.

“I won’t have’ ta if you just tell me!” Ash says placing his hands on his hips a bit frustrated that Dawn was keeping it from him.

“Alright, just relax Ash, Dawn’s just messing with you.” Harmony soothes him a bit, making him relax as Dawn finally starts to tell him.

“Okay, okay, Poffins are a Pokemon treat made from tree berries. See I always helped my mom when she made Poffins, so that would make me an expert!” she brags.

“I uh..I don’t think that’s how that works Dawn, have you ever made any by yourself before? It’s different when you have someone helping bake something.” Harmony tells her gently.

“Soif Poffins are a Pokemon snack that would make it be like the Hoenn regions Pokeblock!” Ash says in excitement.

“Similar yes, but very different techniques, Poffins are harder to make because if you don’t do it right they don’t turn out, or worse get burned. Pokeblock you can’t really mess up besides figuring out flavor combos,” Harmony points out. 

“And not only do Poffins keep pokemon super healthy, but they keep pokemon looking and feeling great!” she says before beginning Brock and Ash, “C’mon, please? Wouldn’t it be cool to take a Poffin class?”

“Yeah please, Brock? There’s still time before the contest, enough time for Dawn to practice,” Harmony points out with puppy-dog eyes that seemed to melt Ash quickly.

“They do have a point…” Ash says, hoping Brock would agree as well.

“It does sound like a good idea, so yes! Let’s go!” Brock says which made Pikachu and Chu cheer happily.

_____________________________

“Anybody home?” Ash calls out as the group got to where the poster said the class was.

“I’m surprised that no one is here…” Harmony says, glancing around in confusion, “We did go to the right place, right Rotom?” she asks her phone floating near her.

Bzzt of course we are at the right place! Would I steer you somewhere else?

Her Rotom replies sarcastically. “Right, sorry Rotom,” Harmony says sheepishly, “Thanks for getting us here, you can go back to rest.” 

My pleasure Harmony! 

It replies before quickly stowing itself back in her pocket.

“Ash keep it down, I think you’re scaring that Roserade over there,” Dawn points out after Ash kept calling out.

“Oops, my bad,” Ash says sheepishly.

“Sorry about that, just because he’s loud now doesn’t mean he’s rude all the time!” Dawn says, trying to fix it.

“Dawn! That was an insult, rather than trying to help,” she says glancing at Ash who sent a playful glare towards Dawn.

“Let’s check out Roserade,” Ash says, tugging his Pokedex out.

Roserade the bouquet Pokemon, Roserade is the evolved form of Roselia, it lures enemies with its sweet aroma and attacks with dancer-like elegance.

“So it evolves from Roselia,” Ash says with a grin.

“Did you say you were here for the Poffin cooking class?” the group hears from in front of them.

“Uh-huh!” the group responds.

“I made you wait, I'm terribly sorry,” she responds only for Brock to go all lovey-dovey on her, making Harmony groan.

“Doesn’t matter who, always the pretty ones that he goes after.” she grumbles as Crogunk takes him away, “Never learns…”

“Uh...well won't the rest of you come inside please?” she offers.

_____________________________

After learning the woman’s name to be Forsythia she started to show the group how to make the Poffins.

It wasn’t long before each one of them were making different batches, Harmony and Dawns turning out really well. “Oh I bet my Pokemon will love these,” she says happily, “And I’m glad we went and switched out some of our friends because now we have Alice back on our team and Braviary,” she says to Chu as she gets her pokeballs out.

Quickly everyone was releasing their teams. Ash brought out Turtwig, Aipom, and Staravia, Brock brought out Sudowoodo as Crogunk was already out, Dawn letting out Pachirisu, Piplup, and Buneary while Harmony let out Alice, her shiny Ampharos, Lyn the Shinx, Pip, the shiny Piplup, and Braviary.

“Alright, guys! I hope you enjoy these, I picked a bunch of similarly flavored berries that you like. But we can adjust if you don’t like them.” Harmony offers as they quickly make way to grab one before trying it. Braviary did not seem to like it all that much while the electric and water types seemed to love it. This made Harmony frown, “Huh, maybe it’s not the right flavor for you, I know you don’t prefer the spicier berries so I should make some bitter ones next time. How does that sound Braviary?” she says earning a happy cry from her flying type. “Great, I’ll write it down so I make sure to make different batches.”

On the other side of the kitchen, Dawn’s pokemon were all crying unhappily about the Poffins Dawn made.

“Uh, Dawn is everything okay?”  


“I don’t understand, these are the ones my mom makes for Glameow! Why don’t they like them?” she says with a frown.

“Well, they all have different tastes than Glameow has, though I’m surprised Buneary doesn’t like it as she’s also a normal type…” Harmony says. “They could like different flavors, it’s experimenting what they like, you know, Dawn. Braviary here doesn’t like these all that much either, so I’ll have to rework another recipe for him,” she says, trying to reassure her friend.

On the other side, Ash’s pokemon swamped Forsythia for Poffins as Ash’s were solidly burnt. “Good try Ash, but uh, best leave cooking and baking to Brock, Dawn, and I,” she says, “at least you did try and put in the effort to make them?” she says again trying to reassure the other friend that everything would be fine.

“You’re probably right Harmony, I’m surprised you know so much seeing as you said this was your first time,” Forsythia says as they were putting the dried dishes away.

“Uh well, I’m used to figuring out what my Pokemon like. I learned pretty fast while camping on my own with them what flavor profiles they prefer, surprisingly most like a spicy with a hint of sweetness to it. It gets the electric types sparking up happily and the water types get that bit of heat that warms them up because they're usually cooler.” Harmony admits. “I just wish Dawn figured that out sooner rather than learning the harder way.” she says sheepishly, “I’m still surprised I didn’t burn them, I may be a good cook, but baking I tend to mess up or get distracted.” 

_____________________________

It was later when they were having tea that they learned of why Roserade was so shy in the first place.

“That’s such a sweet story! I love those kinds of stories. Harmony says with big happy eyes. “It shows how much people and Pokemon can bond over specific things and that bond makes them grow stronger!” 

It was then an explosion was heard from outside.

“What was that!?” Ash calls out as he and Harmony push the windows open to try and see. 

“Surprise Surprise...it’s Team Rocket,” Harmony says in a bored monotone voice. Thankfully some of the pokemon were still out and trying to get them to stop, but they were causing too much destruction.

“Stop it!” Forsythia cries out.

“Knock it off!” Ash cries out.

Listen, is that a voice I hear?

It's speaking to me loud and clear.

On the wind!

Past the stars!

In your ear!

Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!

Dashing hope, putting fear in its place!

A rose by any other name is just as sweet...

When everything's worse, our work is complete!

Jessie!

James!

And Meowth, now that's a name.

Putting the do-gooders in their place!

Team Rocket!

WE’RE IN YOUR FACE!

“Come on!” Ash calls out in anger.

“These berries aren’t yours and you know it!” Harmony growls out Chu angrily calling out as well. 

“So get out now!” Dawn states.

“Twerpier words never spoken. We’re going to make a vast fortune selling Poffins and not you” Jessie calls out sticking her tongue out at the group.

“Pikachu!” 

“Chu!” 

“Thunderbolt let’s go!” Harmony and Ash call out.

Unfortunately, it did nothing making Meowth laugh.

“Hahaha, I know you’re more shocked than we are!”

It was then Team Rocket engaged in a battle with the group, ending up nearly winning and was starting to plan to get away when a stronger Magical leaf shot at them from what looked to be Roserade in a scarf. 

“Isn’t that your Roserade?” Harmony asks Forsythia.

“Roserade protects this orchard?” Meowth asks after having a conversation with Lotad.

“These berries are better than any others, and these flowers are more beautiful than any others too.” Forsythia states, “And it’s all because of Roserade,” she admits with her eyes watering. “But how could my Roserade be so forceful?”

“Roserade has the confidence with the scarf more than likely.” Harmony tells her softly, “It’s something that it can use to prove itself, but that means it’s always had that kind of spirit inside it just needs a push.” she says to Forsythia.

With Team Rocket slightly distracted Harmony and Ash nod to each other telling their Pikachu’s to use Quick Attack on the wheels of Team Rocket’s basket robot. 

With that happening the group of teens were stopped by giant baskets getting thrown onto them.

“Are you fucking kidding me those bloody asshats!” Harmony growls pounding at the wall of the basket trying to either break it or get it to fall over.

“Harmony calm down! We’ll get out of this,” Ash says having been trapped with her making her shoulders fall a bit and relax.

“You’re right, we’ll figure it out...but how?” she asks him softly.

It was then that Meowth had stolen Roserades scarf and Team Rocket had nabbed it as well, while Forsythia had had enough and was trying to stop Team Rocket herself by blocking their path and giving Roserade the boost it needed from its trainer.

The group of teens were freed when Roserade used Petal dance in order to free them but also stop Team Rocket by blowing out one of the tires of their machine.

“Go get them! Piplup use bubble beam!” Dawn calls out.

“Crogunk use Poison Sting!” Brock calls out.

“Pikachu!”

“Chu!”

“Double Iron Tail!” Harmony and Ash call out together the combined attack breaking open the machine and letting the berries flow out.

“Quick Roserade use Petal Dance!” Forsythia calls out.

The moves combined allowed for the machine to explode and sent Team Rocket blasting off again.

“Talk about an overwhelming victory,” Brock says as they look at the mess.

It was then that Roserade used Sunny Day and Lotad used Water Gun to help repair the damaged garden, fresh plants sprouting in place, much like the legend of Floaroma Town. 

_____________________________

Eventually, Dawn finally was able to figure out a recipe that her pokemon liked, it just took her time to really assess what her pokemon would really enjoy. And enjoy them her Pokemon did.

“See? Now time to prep for that contest of yours Dawn, I am really sure about sitting this one out, I’ll compete in the next one for sure, I want to train Pip up a bit more hopefully we’ll be able to get him closer to learning Drill Peck or even get him closer to evolve as I noticed he seemed to be closer.” Harmony points out. “Tomorrow we can do more practicing if you want to? I have a good feeling about this contest for you,” she admits to Dawn earning a grin.

“Well I’m super pumped about it! So whoever stands in my way bring it on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry it took a few days, I got distracted while trying to get to The Rise of Darkrai, which I am in the midst of writing and loving it!


	13. Dawn's School Friend is a Coordinator Too?

As Dawn prepared for the next contest with Harmony’s help they figured to let Pachirisu learn a bit more from Chu, her Pikachu with learning to store up electric power that would help with a contest.

“Pachirisu why don’t you try storing up electric energy just like Chu did,” Dawn says to her squirrel pokemon.

“See that looks pretty cool and will work well for a contest Dawn.” Harmony points out with a grin, “And once you store up enough you need to let it all out at once, which can create quite the spectacle.”

As Pachirisu did that it looked like blu fireworks in the air.

“You’re doing it Pachirisu and it looks beautiful!” Dawn compliments her pokemon. “Thanks for your help Chu! I know we’ll win that ribbon for sure!” 

“Those kinds of things can make all the difference in a Pokemon Contest.” Brock points out. As Pikachu went up to Chu to chat about how a great coach she was being to Pachirisu.

It was then that Pachirisu came back to Dawn with big wide eyes, “I know what you want, a Poffin!” Dawn says, pulling out her bag of them. “You want one too Piplup?”

“Careful Dawn, don’t spoil them too much or they’ll expect a treat every time you train.” Harmony points out, “Which isn’t a bad thing, but still.”

“Man you two made quick work of that.” Ash points out the two pokemon having eaten them rather quickly.

“One could say they have just as much an appetite as you do Ash,” Harmony teases earning a blush on Ash’s cheeks.

“I’ll tell you, you’ve really got the perfect recipe going,” Brock compliments Dawn.

“With Forsythia’s help of course,” Dawn points out only to look back down to see her pokemon begging for more.

“Oh no, Dawn. This is when you put your foot down and say no more.” Harmony says with a shake of her head, “Treats are for when they do something to earn it, not for all the time.”

“Right, not until we do more practicing you two,” Dawn says, trying to be firm but they go further to beg her for more. “I said no,” she repeats but they continue to beg. “I said no!” she says more firmly and both Chu and Pikachu quickly realize what Pachirisu was going to do along with Harmony who darted away a bit. 

“Well then, someone’s got a bit of an attitude.” Harmony giggles as everyone gets electrocuted. “That is going to be hard to train away. Chu can you stop Pachirisu please?” she asks her Pikachu who nods and shoots a thunderbolt at the squirrel pokemon causing it to faint.

“Are you three okay?” Harmony says worriedly, “Did I forget to mention how electric types have trouble training if things don’t go their way? Because they can get that way…” she says sheepishly moving to help everyone stand back up.

“Oh no! Not my hair again!” Dawn cries out at her electrocuted frizzy hair.

“It’s okay we’ll fix it, nothing some brushing and spray can’t fix. Don’t worry Dawn.” Harmony says gently to her friend.

“Hey DeeDee!” a male voice calls out.

“DeeDee?” Dawn says with a gasp.

“Deedee?” Harmony, Ash, and Brock call out in confusion.

“Only one guy knows that name!” Dawn says in a panic.

“That’s right, good to see you!” a boy walks up to Dawn.

“Kenny! It is you!” Dawn says with a gasp.

“And loving that hairdo,” Kenny teases.

Dawn soon freaks out and Harmony rushes to try and fix her hair a quick spritz from a bottle and Dawn furiously shoving it down was a perfect fix. “Anyone can have a bad hair day!” 

“DeeDee huh?” Ash questions again.

“Yeah, probably either a childhood nickname or a childhood traumatic nickname. Been there done that, never fun, and gets under your skin unless you find one for the other person or get over it.” Harmony says with a shrug.

“What do you know, DeeDee’s got herself a couple of Pikachu, DeeDee’s all grown up,” Kenny says, almost sounding impressed as Chu and Pikachu had walked up next to Dawn.

“Kenny stop! And you stop calling me DeeDee too! And these aren’t my Pikachu! It’s theirs!” Dawn says irritated and pointing towards Ash and Harmony.

“She’s right, sorry, this girl Pikachu is mine, this is Chu, My name’s Harmony,” Harmony says as her Pikachu rushes to jump on her shoulder nuzzling her cheek a bit before nodding in agreement.

“My name is Ash,” Ash introduces himself as Pikachu jumps on his shoulder happily.

“And my name is Brock, nice to meet you,” Brock introduces.

“Yeah nice to meet you,” Kenny responds

“See, we’ve been traveling together for a few weeks now.” Dawn points out.

“Best thing ever to go around with friends on a journey, less lonely!” Harmony grins her arm slinging around Dawn’s shoulder, “Plus it means we girls get to team up against the guys.”

“What! With them?” Kenny says bewildered.

___________________

“Kenny left from Twinleaf Town to start his journey before I did.” Dawn explains, “We’ve known each other since Nursery school, and we used to play together a lot. I’m trying to remember your first pokemon…”

“I’ll show ya!” Kenny says standing up from the table the group of five were sitting at to catch up and talk. “Come on out to meet everybody!” he calls out, tossing his ball out revealing a Prinplup.

“Wow, a Prinplup!” Harmony and Dawn say getting up out of their seats.

“That means he chose a Piplup as his starter pokemon,” Ash points out, getting his Pokedex out.

Prinplup the penguin pokemon and the evolved form of Piplup, one blow from its wings is enough to blow down trees.

Piplup goes to greet it’s evolution happily only for Kenny’s Prinplup to bat it with its wing.

“Hey! What was that all about! That’s not nice.” Harmony says, her eyes narrowing.

“What was that for!?” Dawn cries out.

“Uh, sorry sometimes Prinplup gets a bit freaked out if someone gets in its space. I’m the only one Prinplup doesn’t have a problem with,” Kenny says apologetically.

“Which means it’s your job as a trainer to scold it and tell it that’s not a good reaction. You know how dangerous that is, don’t you? A kid could come up since you’re a coordinator and want to greet it and get smacked.” Harmony points out, “If you’re working with pokemon being performers they have to be able to interact with others, they can’t lash out like that.” she points out to Kenny. “It’s okay now, but if Prinplup evolves and still has that behavior it’ll become a really big problem.”

“Hey look at that they’re acting like Rivals.” Ash points out, seeing Piplup trying to make himself look bigger than he was with Prinplup.

“Oh, why not just get along?”Dawn says with a sigh.

“Well, they’re both penguin pokemon, remember? And tempers at times can get pretty high.” Brock points out.

“And although Prinplup don’t particularly like being with others, with a good amount of training they can.” Harmony points out once again.

“I saw you using Piplup at the Jubilife City contest, were you copying me?” Kenny points out to Dawn.

Dawn got upset at the accusation. “I wouldn’t copy you ever! Piplup and I were made for each other! Isn’t that right sweetie?” she asks and Piplup responds happily leaning back to wave at his trainer. “You were at the Jubilife contest? Were you competing or just watching?”

“Uh, excuse me my match was on TV. Why weren’t you watching?” Kenny responds making Dawn look apologetic.

“I uh...guess I was busy,” she says bowing in apology.

“Yeah, while we were running around looking for you, “ Harmony teases, “But I guess we did miss quite a bit of the performer, there was a ton that didn’t make it, sad there are only 8 spots,”

Dawn starts giggling, “Wow, I can’t see you as a coordinator,”

“Well that, unlike you I’ve already made it to the finals,” Kenny says

“Wow, you did! Amazing!” Dawn says with wide eyes. 

“It was the contest right before Jubilife city, and I thought I had my first ribbon. But then I went up against an opponent who was so powerful, I didn’t have a chance. She had a Glameow and her name was Zoey. Zoey beat you as well, but Harmony was able to beat her.” Kenny points out.

“She wasn’t an easy opponent though, she’s really talented, I can’t imagine her not making it through to the top four for the grand festival.” Harmony points out, “Gave me a run for my money so to speak.” 

“Are you competing in the Floaroma Town contest?” Kenny asks Harmony and Ash and she shakes her head.

“No my team is a bit worn out from our gym battle, plus we’re planning a new sequence right now so practice is better than messing up and losing focus,” she admits. “Usually that’s what I do unless we’re really fired up.”

“Ash is aiming to win the Sinnoh league,” Dawn points out, “and Brock’s a pokemon breeder.” she tells him.

“But you were in Jubilife right?” Kenny asks Ash confused. 

“I had some fun with contests, but no doubt it’s gym battles for me!” Ash admits.

“So you guys first hooked up in Jubilife then?” Kenny asks Dawn.

“No, before that! We first met after I rescued Ash’s Pikachu for him, and later I watched Ash battle at the Oreburgh Gym, which took him two whole times before he could win his first badge in Sinnoh.”

“Hmmm,” Kenny mutters thinking as he turns to look at Ash.

“What’s up?” Ash asks confused.

“Nothing, see I’m sure you’ve got your stories but they don’t hold a candle to my Dawn ones,” Kenny says smugly.

This made Dawn get mad, “You wouldn’t dare!” she growls.

“When it comes to stories I got tons of them,” Kenny says leaning towards Ash.

“Like what?”

“Hey, we’re all ears.”

“OR we could not, and leave it alone because it’s something Dawn obviously doesn’t want us to know, she’ll tell us herself if it matters,” Harmony says, narrowing her eyes at the guys of their group.

“Kenny do you have to?” Dawn pleads.

“They’ll love it! One time Dawn’s mom gave her a haircut that she couldn’t stand so Dawn tried to cut it herself.” he says messing with his own hair before leaning towards Ash, “You can’t believe how it turned out, she looked just like a Chimchar!”

“A Chimchar?” Ash and Brock call out looking at Dawn who looked ready to burn someone as they all started trying to hold back laughter.

“Alright, that’s enough! It’s really rude.” Harmony scolds them slamming her hand on the table, “It’s not funny because I bet if we went and talked to your parents we’d find out similar stories.“ she points out narrowing her eyes towards Brock and Ash who immediately stopped with worried looks that Harmony would follow through with her threat.

“If you guys think I’m the way I was back then, you’ve got another thing coming!” Dawn yells out in anger. “I’ll show you a real pokemon battle!” She demands pounding her hand on the table in frustration over Kenny’s stories.

“What I want is a battle with either of those Pikachu’s!” Kenny says looking at Ash and Harmony.

“What me?” Ash asks confused.

“Did you hear what I said or not?” Dawn growls out frustrated.

“Look I want to make Prinplup stronger, so I want to battle someone with real oomph.” Kenny points out.

“Argg, you may have started your journey first, but what a baby.”

“C’mon Dawn, he challenged me so bring it on!” Ash says getting excitedly

“Yeah I’m going to pass, I don’t want to get into all this mess.” Harmony says shaking her head and rubbing her temples, “It’s going to give me a headache at this rate.”

______________________

As the battle started Harmony snickered a bit earning Brock’s attention. “It’s just funny, seeing that Kenny cares about Dawn at least a bit romantically you see, that’s why he was getting her worked up. Like when a guy pulls a girl’s hair to show you like them. That sort of thing” she whispers to Brock, earning a chuckle and nod. “He sees Ash as a threat, to be honest, and wants to eye him up.”

Chu was cheering Pikachu on during the battle waving her pom-poms she had pulled out from Dawn’s bag.

While the battle was still going on a black smoke filtered into the air.

“What the...what’s going on?” Harmony says getting up from the bench to try and see, but it was no use. “Braviary, come out and help blow the smoke away!” Harmony says while coughing trying to cover her mouth.

“Staravia use gust to clear everything!” Ash calls out.

With the two flying types blowing the smoke away it revealed James, Meowth, along with Jessie’s pokemon trying to shove Prinplup into a bag.

“Wait a minute that’s not your pokemon Team Rocket!” Harmony growls out.

“Don’t blame us if you were too quick to draw away that hasty haze!” James says almost looking defeated right off the bat.

“I don’t know what you’re doing but let go of Prinplup!” Kenny says racing closer.

“Hey, where’s Jessie?” Brock questions.

“If you must know, getting her nails done!” James retorts.

“Nails done!?” Harmony and Dawn cry out.

“Prinplup with your power you can get out of that hold!” Kenny tried to spark Prinplup up but Seviper’s grip was too tight.

“Sorry to spoil the twerp pod, but Dustox’s poison sting just sucked the life out of Prinplup sales big time!” Meowth says with a waggle of his claw.

“What! Don’t worry! I’m getting you out of there!”Kenny says moving to get to his pokemon only for James to call out his own pokemon.

With that Ash rushed to push Kenny out of the way of the oncoming pin missile and bullet seed attack.

“Are you okay!?” Ash asks.

“Kenny?” Dawn asks worriedly.

“Yeah I’m fine, who are those guys?” Kenny responds.

“They’re bad, they’re always trying to steal pokemon from us,” Dawn answers.

“One step closer and Prinplup gets Punked” James states as Sevipers tail glows purple.

“Stop it!” Dawn cries out, Piplup jumping out of her arms.

Pikachu and Chu go to spark their cheeks.

“You three wait,” Ash says causing the three pokemon to stop and look at him.

“You can’t use thunderbolt, it’ll hurt Prinplup,” Harmony points out to them.

As James and Meowth try to leave, seeing as the teens couldn’t do anything with Team Rocket trying to throw attacks at them until Piplup moved to take it all glowing.

“What move is that!?” Dawn cries out.

“Looks like bide.” Ash points out.

“I don’t think so, it looks more like a water move...though I can’t remember what,” Harmony says with a frown.

“It’s whirlpool!” Kenny points out as the move absorbs Team Rocket’s moves. “It traps your opponent in a whirlpool and deals them damage over and over.”

“Sounds just like what we need, alright Piplup! Use whirlpool!” Dawn calls out.

Throwing the Whirlpool at Team Rocket trapped them inside and was able to give Prinplup the strength it needed to get out of Team Rocket’s clutches.

“Hey look Prinplup’s just fine!” Ash points out.

“Piplup’s whirlpool must have helped it get the boost it needed,” Harmony states with a grin.

James, Meowth, and the pokemon tried to get away.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Dawn cries out angrily. “You’re not getting off that easily!”

“That’s an understatement!” Kenny responds standing next to Dawn.

“Use bubble beam!” The two coordinators call out to their penguin pokemon sending Team Rocket blasting off.

“Piplup you were great!” Ash compliments the penguin pokemon.

“Learning a brand new move right before a contest is a great thing to do!” Dawn praises her pokemon.

“And thanks to you Prinplup is just fine!” Kenny points out.

“I can’t wait to see you guys in your contest tomorrow!” Harmony coos just as Piplup falls and bumps his head.

_______________

Later that night after Prinplup had been checked out by Nurse Joy and Kenny and Dawn started arguing over who would win.

“Tomorrow is sure going to be something,” Harmony says with a shake of her head.

_______________

And it really was, with Dawn nearly messing up in the beginning and Pachirius freaking out until Dawn used a Poffin to calm it down.

“Whew that worried me a bit, but at least it came in handy, something I’ll have to keep in mind,” Harmony says with a sigh of relief.

_______________

When it came to the first round of battles after Dawn made it, she was up against Jessalina. “You go get and win Dawn!” Harmony calls out loudly having finally realized why Jessalina was so familiar, it was Jessie from Team Rocket. “No wonder they always keep getting hoodwinked, even though they aren’t that good with disguises…” she mutters. “I guess she isn’t hurting anyone right now, but I’ll leave it at that,” she grumbles.

Dawn won the battle actually knocking out her opponent before time ran out.

_______________

The final stage battle was Kenny against Dawn. 

The two looked evenly matched with their bubble beams.

“I would say Piplup actually is a bit better, sometimes it’s not just the power of evolution that makes a pokemon stronger, but sheer determination.” Harmony points out. “It’s why working with the first evolution of a pokemon is really the best thing to do, you bond really well and are able to keep that bond strong as the pokemon evolves.” she points out. “Kenny might have the evolved pokemon, but that doesn’t mean Prinplup is as strong as Piplup with everything. You saw Piplup’s whirlpool, I doubt that Prinplup will really be able to get away from that at some point.” 

With Dawn using Whirlpool though it didn't damage enough it still was making Kenny lose points. 

Dawn ended up using Whirlpool once more with Piplup and Prinplup getting on top of it surfing it. 

Dawn was finally able to win with just a few points more than Kenny earning her first ribbon. 

“She did it!” Harmony cheers with a grin on her face moving to jump up and down hugging Ash in excitement only to stop as her cheeks heat up and apologize for getting too excited. “I rarely get to see a contest without being a part of one, it’s just as thrilling,” she says bashfully, turning her head away not noticing that Ash’s cheeks were also a bit red from her sudden hug.

_______________

Once everything was wrapped up and Dawn called her mom to show off her ribbon which left Dawn crying.

“Hey, what, why are you crying, you won Dawn! That’s not something to cry about!” Harmony says with a frown moving to hug her friend.

“They’re tears of joy, not sadness,” she mutters wiping her tears away.

“I bet your mom’s really proud,” Brock points out.

“Yeah, and thank you for cheering me on! Now it’s onto the Eterna gym for you two! ANd it will be my turn to cheer you two on!” Dawn says with a grin, “And you both are going to win it!” she points out to Ash and Harmony who turn to look at each other with determination. 

“Oh I don’t doubt it, we’re going to win for sure!” Harmony says with a wide grin on her face.

“So it’s one to none huh,” Kenny speaks up from behind the group.

“Yeah, but you and Prinplup are going to win soon!” Dawn points out.

“I’m sure we’ll see you at another contest.” Dawn points out to Kenny.

“I’m really glad I became a coordinator you know? Cause there’s no doubt you and I will be battling again. See you DeeDee” Kenny says waving her off.

“Huh? Stop. Calling Me. DeeDee!” Dawn cries out after him.

“He sure makes a good rival for you,” Brock points out.

“Hey what’s so bad about DeeDee anyway?” Ash asks, making Harmony shake her head.

“Never ever ask about something like that,” she mutters as Dawn flips out.

“Don’t even go there!” Dawn cries out angrily. 

“Alright well, we better get some sleep so we can head out tomorrow.” Harmony points out. “Sleep off all our excitement and all that.” she points out.

“Yeah, we’ll have to see what tomorrow brings us!” Ash cheers with a grin.


	14. Through Eterna Forest First?

On the way to Eterna City, the group of four teens visited a Pokémon Center where they met young Paige and her big sister Marnie, the daughters of the local Nurse Joy.

With this meeting, they were able to get their first good look at Drifloon because Marnie has three, which she uses to help her deliver lunch to her father while Paige takes the group of teens to meet Pokémon in the surrounding forest. Paige also reveals she and Marnie have a secret friend, none other than the legendary Suicune.

Marnie's father and his Ampharos are working at the Valley Windworks Power Plant. Something happened that damaged the Windworks, which made it so that the lights went out at the Pokémon Center too. Leaving Nurse Joy to go to the Windworks to see what was wrong. 

Paige wanted to help and took her Drifloon in order to follow with Pikachu and Chu trying to stop her only for a big gust of wind to sweep all of them away!

The group of teens race to the Windworks to try and intercept them, except with the looming storm Paige, Chu, and Pikachu must have been blown way off course. 

Ash and Harmony were able to find them with the help of Marnie's Drifloon, but Paige, Pikachu, and Chu had gotten stuck up among the rocks.

There really was no way the two teens to reach them on foot any time soon. 

Marnie however, was determined to save her sister no matter what, so she had asked Suicune to appear and help her. 

Suicune responds and quickly takes her to Ash, Harmony, and Paige. With Marnie and Suicune’s help, everyone was taken back to safety. 

With Nurse Joy's family reunited and the Windworks Power Plant fixed, the group of teens called it a day.

_______________

The following day the group of teens came across a newsworthy diversion: two notorious Pokémon Trainers who've won 16 battles in a row, attracting the attention of Rhonda the reporter and her Sinnoh Now news team. 

Of course with that information, Ash wants to battle these Champ Twins, Bryan, and Ryan.

The only catch was that Bryan and Ryan only have tag battles. So teaming up with Dawn after Harmony’s decision to not participate, the cameras started rolling. Ash and Dawn battled Bryan's Croconaw and Ryan's Quilava with Turtwig and Piplup.

However the two trainers were far too eager to show their stuff, but their teamwork skills made them fail, then again they didn’t have very well teamwork skills at all.

Mainly it was because the two of them didn’t coordinate their moves to work well together, so it was easy for Piplup and Turtwig to get in each other's way. This once again led to Ash and Dawn arguing, which made them ultimately lose their battle.

“I told you, you guys need to work together, the more you argue with each other the less likely you’ll ever win something like a tag team.” Harmony scolds the two, “Being part of a tag team includes, shocker, teamwork, and you two just are arguing, how do you think your pokemon feel about that?” she points out earning bashful looks from both trainers. “So if you want to try again, try and figure out what you want to do before and try to igure out how to work together, for Arceus’s sake, you two can get along and know how to work together, how many times have we taken Team Rocket down because we’ve all worked together?”

“You’re right Harmony...I’m sorry Ash I shouldn’t have yelled at you for trying to figureout a way to win, and we shouldn’t have gotten in your way so much.”

“I’m sorry too, Dawn, I guess we got too into the battle and forgot we needed to work together, instead of against you.” Ash apologies.

“See, now how about we go try to find those Champ Twins and ask for a rematch? As a real Tag team who can work together that is.” she points out.

“Yeah! You’re right!” 

There really was only one small problem with the plan to go have a rematch. 

Team Rocket had lured the Champ Twins into a pit trap and stolen their Pokémon.

When the group of teens discovered the theft, they were quick to show off their new teamwork and were easily able to defeat Team Rocket to get Croconaw and Quilava back.

With that Ash and Dawn were able to battle the Champ Twins again, and this time their improved coordination made it so that they could win the battle.

_____________________

As the group of teens got further into the Eterna Forest Ash’s Aipom had rushed off away from them, with the teens racing after her. Only to find a tree full of delicious honey, the scent of which has attracted several Pokémon, which had included Ash's Aipom and a wild Burmy. 

The Burmy has also attracted the attention of a Trainer, Cheryl, who captured it with her Chansey.

After learning that Cheryl is a treasure hunter in search of the Enchanted Honey that's said to lie within the Amber Castle. The four teens were quite intrigued.

The only catch was that the only way to find it is through a male Burmy she can evolve into Mothim, which has an amazing sense of smell.

Both Ash and Harmony offer to help evolve Burmy by letting it battle Turtwig and Lyn, the Shinx.

What should have been an easy victory for Burmy, a bug type, to beat a Grass-type, Turtwig, was not it as this Burmy wasn't very robust making it lose rather quickly to Turtwig. Even with Harmony trying to get Lyn, the Shinx to be a bit gentler and try and let Burmy win it didn’t work

After it lost both of the matches it got seized by Team Rocket as part of a nefarious plot to evolve it into Mothim and impress Giovanni. 

After Team Rocket makes their getaway with Burmy, however, they discover that Burmy's better at eating all their food than it is at battling.

Thankfully just in time, Cheryl and the teens arrived to rescue Burmy, the one that was stuffing its face full of Team Rocket’s food that is.

Burmy managed to help rescue itself by teaming up with Chansey in order to defeat Meowth and Wobbuffet, giving enough experience for it to finally evolve into Mothim.

The stage was easily set for everyone to join forces and send Team Rocket blasting off. 

But after that, the newly evolved Mothim then picks up a scent and leads the group of five towards a new chapter in the search for the Amber Castle.

____________________

Along the way in the search for the Amber Castle, the group of five cross paths with that of Gardenia, a Trainer who's a real Grass-type fanatic. 

Mainly because Ash and Harmony were training together with Turtwig and Lyn, the Shinx. Gardenia was quick to admire Ash's Turtwig so much that she challenges Ash to a battle.

It was something that shocked Harmony as Ash and she hadn’t even finished their battle. 

“It’s fine Ash, it might be better to train against a grass-type person because the next gym from what I read was a grass type gym. It might be better to figure that out now and strategize,” she says moving to lit Lyn up into her arms, the poor Shinx pouting a bit as the battle didn’t get finished. “Don’t worry Lyn, there will be other times you can battle Turtwig I’m sure.”

Gardenia sends out her Cherubi to battle Turtwig but soon switches in her own Turtwig instead. As fast as Ash's Turtwig is, Gardenia's Turtwig is even faster and wins the first round.

Ash's next pick is his speedy Staravia, but he's was shocked when Gardenia's Turtwig turned out to still be fast enough to dodge Staravia's attacks and win once again. This marked Gardenia as the victor.

Gardenia then offers to help our heroes find a Combee Wall because wherever Combee gather and store nectar, there's bound to be honey.

But then once again Team Rocket makes another attempt to steal Cheryl's Mothim, hoping that its keen sense of smell will lead them to the Enchanted Honey instead. 

Even their villainy is no match for Gardenia's fearless love for James' Grass-type Pokémon and the power of her Turtwig, and Team Rocket finds themselves blasting off again, still empty-handed. 

After all the help she's given, however, Gardenia had to part ways with the group of five, who soon were able to spot a Combee. Excitedly realizing that they must be close to a Combee Wall, Cheryl, Ash, Harmony, Dawn, and Brock once again rush off in search of the unknown.  
________________

With finding the Combee Cheryl's Mothim used its keen sense of smell to lead everyone towards the scent of honey, and soon they're deep in a series of tunnels. 

Something must have happened elsewhere as the Combee became angry at the group of five, confusing the group as to why they were angry at them who hadn’t done anything, it was Team Rocket who was digging up their home after all!

Cheryl has Mothim use Supersonic to confuse the Combee, which lets the group of five, ignoring Team Rocket, continue the search for the Enchanted Honey. 

The group soon finds themselves in front of the biggest Combee yet and pass through to discover the Amber Castle was right behind it. 

This glimmering golden structure had a Vespiquen living at its center, easily being the Queen of this hive, and Cheryl apologized to her for the intrusion.

Just as Cheryl asked Vespiquen for the gift of honey, Team Rocket bursts into the Castle and nearly wrecks it in their attempt to raid the Enchanted Honey. 

While Ash and Harmony rush to try and repair the damage, the Queen of the hive, Vespiquen, and Cheryl's Mothim deal with Team Rocket, sending them flying before they can do any more damage. 

After some repairs, with the help of the teens, Cheryl and the rest of the Combee the Amber Castle was safe, and Cheryl received a gift of Enchanted Honey for helping Vespiquen and the Combee. 

With that quest finished it was time for Cheryl the treasure hunter to be on her way As well as Harmony and Ash and their friends were also eager to head for their next destination: Eterna City, where Harmony and Ash's next Gym battle awaits them!  
________

The only thing that stopped them from reaching Eterna City was there being a Pokémon Dress-Up Contest where Pokémon try to imitate other Pokémon.

Ash and Pikachu, Harmony and Chu, Dawn and Piplup, Brock and Croagunk, and what Harmony thought looked like Team Rocket, more than likely was them after all, all entering the contest in hopes of winning the Pokémon Egg prize. 

But how were the chances of beating the reigning champion, a singing Chatot? It seemed rather difficult for Harmony to fathom, but she really had hoped to raise another egg, it was really fun.

The key was to stay in character. 

So with that in mind when Piplup, pretending to be Weedle, got a little too excited and uses Bubble Beam, Dawn and Piplup are knocked out of the first round.

Harmony, Ash, and Brock make it into the second round along with Team Rocket.

Harmony had thought that it seemed like James was playing fair with Mime Jr. it turned out that Jessie couldn't resist stealing the prize Pokémon Egg, forcing Team Rocket to make a quick getaway. 

Together with Officer Jenny, the group of teens chase after Team Rocket so quickly that Brock's Croagunk doesn’t even stop to take off its Politoed costume.

There's no doubt who’ll win this showdown, especially once Mime Jr.'s Teeter Dance hits Team Rocket instead of its target. 

In all the confusion, Team Rocket drops the stolen Pokémon Egg. Buneary quickly catches it, Team Rocket is sent packing, and everyone returns to the contest for the final results. 

After the judges tallied their votes, the final winner was Brock's Croagunk, who stayed in character as Politoed even while chasing Team Rocket.

Brock accepted the Pokémon Egg, leaving him and the other teens to ponder two important questions. When will the Egg hatch, and just what Pokémon will it turn out to be?  
“I’m not sure, but I would say it’s more likely going to be some kind of fairy-type, the coloring seems to be that way, it could be an Igglybuff or Hapiny based on the coloring, usually that means that it’s bread from two o the same parent or ones if Hapiny’s sake could be from another nurse pokemon like an Audino as the other parent,” she explains.

Her friends gave her a look of confusion. “What? Brock may be the breeder of this group but that doesn’t mean I don’t study on Pokemon eggs as well, its a hobby of sorts, there’s a daycare I liked visiting back home in the Wild Area and I’d help out a bit when I could, I liked helping with the eggs of all sorts of types. Usually, there is some kind of pattern that represents what pokemon it might be.” she points out with a shrug. 

“Let’s get going, the Eterna Gym really is closer than ever, and I really want to get there by the end of the week if we can!” Harmony says with a grin.


	15. Are We There Yet?

Deciding to take a break from walking so much the group of four teens decided to go fishing in hopes of catching a powerful Buizel that's been spotted in a nearby river.

“I get that you want a powerful Pokemon Ash, but do you really think it will all for more fishing? It obviously loves to take on challengers, I don’t think it wants to really get caught” Harmony points out to her overly excited friend.

“That’s all the more reason for me to catch it and add it to my team! Don’t you think it will be an amazing team member?” Ash points out.

“While I didn’t say it wouldn’t, but it might not want to join a trainer, some pokemon love being wild, you have to catch it with a fishing rod first.” 

The group was soon joined by Zoey, Dawn's friend, and rival, who happened to be in the area to do some fishing of her own.

With Zoey joining everyone was distracted until Dawn who ends up with Buizel on her fishing line. 

Buizel defeats Dawn's Piplup and promptly challenges Zoey. Zoey's Glameow is no slouch, but Buizel wins that battle and then still has the energy to take on Pikachu and win.

Now all three Trainers are determined to catch it. 

“Really, do you have to make a competition on this? Yeah, it’s a strong pokemon, you’d have to gain it’s trust somehow, after all, it took the fishing rods.” Harmony points out.

When they came back across Buizel, it was in the middle of a workout. 

The only problem was that Team Rocket decided to be party crashers and caught it in a net and tried to take off in their balloon.

Of course, the teens didn’t let that happen with Harmony’s Shinx, Lyn, and Ash's Turtwig cut Buizel loose with Swift and Razor Leaf. 

Dawn was also determined to rescue Buizel, although Buizel didn't seem convinced that it needed any help at all. Once freed from the net, it helps defeat Team Rocket and still wants another battle with Piplup.

“You really should try again Dawn, it’s great battle experience, and I think Buizel is a great opponent for Piplup.” Harmony encourages her, elbowing Ash who looked like he wanted to complain that he really wanted Buizel. “Right, Ash? She should try again, shouldn’t she?” Harmony says tuning to the other teen and narrowing her eyes at him.

Ash seems to pause as his mouth was open before shutting it and nodding in agreement, “You really should Dawn, it’ll be great for you.”

It was clear that Buizel was a strong, powerful Pokémon, but this time Dawn and Piplup realize they had a creative edge, especially with being coordinators, there was nothing wrong with trying to dazzle and distract a pokemon in order to win and catch it.

By using the combinations they had been developing for Contests, Piplup is able to defeat Buizel and Dawn finally caught it in a Pokeball. 

After parting ways with Zoey who was going to stay behind to do some fishing for a new Pokémon of her own, Harmony and Ash were just a bit closer to their next goal, that being the Eterna Gym battle!

_______________

Dawn and Ash are hoping a friendly battle with Turtwig will help Dawn's new Buizel warm up to its new companions. But instead of wanting to perform, Buizel wants to play rough, and it won't even listen to Dawn's commands.

“Maybe we should head for the Pokemon Center now? It’s not too far from here, and clearly there needs to be some easier ways that might work better at a Pokemon Center than out here in the forest.” Harmony says gently to Dawn. 

Upon arriving at the Pokémon Center after the battle and that's where they meet Lucian, a Trainer who specializes in Psychic Pokémon. 

“I’ve met him somewhere, I can’t remember where though….” Harmony mutters rubbing her head, “Probably some gala that Leon dragged me to…” she grumbles to herself. Finally, it hit her, “Oh right! He’s one of Sinnoh's Elite Four, a top group of Trainers next to the Champion Cynthia of course.” 

As soon as those words came out of Harmony’s mouth Buizel perked up and rushed over to Lucian, it was itching to have a battle with him.

For whatever reason that Harmony couldn’t fully understand Lucian agrees to the match and sends out his Bronzong. 

Unfortunately just like before Buizel ignores Dawn's commands again and continues to battle its own way.

With Buizel not listening it made it very easy for Bronzong to win as Bronzong is just too tough. Buizel was soon knocked out of the match, but with its continuous winning streak, it has difficulty accepting this defeat. 

___________

“I feel bad for Buizel.” Harmony says softly, “It’s never really lost before, so this is a big blow.”

“And so that maybe, but it could also be a good thing, it would have happened that it lost at some point no?” Lucian says from behind her making Harmony jump.

“Bloody ‘ell, don’t sneak up on me!” she cries out.

“Sorry, guess you were lost in thought as well. I was about to talk with Dawn but noticed you here. You’re with the Champion of Galar correct?”

“Well not with him, he’s my best mate, and always has plus ones for certain events, mainly because I’m his only mate that’s a girl besides Sonia, you were at the champions gala that one year right? With all the champions and elite four members. Chairman Rose wanted Leon and me to mingle, but we more so stuck to ourselves.”

“Yes, you two were the youngest from what I remember.”

“Yeah, kinda hard to mingle when we’re only thirteen and everyone else is later in their teens and early twenties. Plus no offense but you lot are intimidating, we felt out of place really. I bet that’s how Buizel feels, with Dawn being a coordinator, he’s not used to being flashy, rather than just being a battler, she’d have to adapt to him more than he to her.” she admits.

“That might be an excellent idea for you to tell her.”

“I’ll tell her later, she’s too worried right now and it will go in one ear out the other.” Harmony points out to Lucian, “But if you want to talk with her nows the time.”

_____________

That is what Lucian did, he wen up to Dawn that this loss could be very important: if Buizel doesn't learn how to overcome this setback, who knows what might happen?

What happens, however, is that Team Rocket took this opportunity to trap Buizel in a cage so they can steal it.

While Dawn, Ash, Brock, and Harmony all rush to try and help, Lucian thinks this is actually a good thing.

Because Buizel was so angry at being captured that it forgot about its defeat and breaks out of the cage.

Once freed Lucian shows Dawn how to adapt to Buizel's style so they can work together to beat Team Rocket. 

After the villains are blasted off once again, Dawn and Buizel have a rematch with Lucian and Bronzong. It goes to show that even after only a day had passed that they were able to demonstrate improved teamwork.

Before Lucian leaves, he encourages Dawn to keep training and says he'll see the group of four teens again someday.

_____________

“WE MADE IT TO ETERNA CITY!!” Harmony cheers tugging Ash by his arm as she spotted the city just up ahead, the two teens excited as they were closer than ever for their gym battles.

“I bet you I can find the gym first!” Ash calls out to her making Harmony narrow her eyes.

“Oh yeah? I bet you're wrong. I already know where it is! All thanks to Rotom!” she points out with a grin, “I’m not losing this race for sure and I get to challenge the Gym leader first this time!”

“Harmony, Ash, slow down!” Dawn cries out trying to run after Harmony and Ash.

“You two promised we’d check out the museum first!” Brock points out to the two teens causing them to wince.

“Aww man, I thought you’d forget about it before we got there…” Harmony says with a pout. “I love history but do we have to really go to a museum?” she cries out.

“But the gym!” Ash cries out with Harmony.

Both Brock and Dawn give the two teens a look making them sigh in defeat.

“...fine…” the two mutter slightly unhappy about it.

After getting to the Eterna Historical Museum the alarms start blaring as someone had just stolen the Museum's Adamant Orb, a few minutes after they had gotten inside. 

The Adamant Orb was an artifact that is said to increase Dialga's power.

“I think it’s still here though,” Harmony whispers to Ash as they rush in to see what happened, “After all everything shut down, no one is getting in or out.” 

Turns out she was partially right, the security footage suggests a Sunflora was one of the culprits. 

“Are you sure that’s a Sunflora? It looks funny, not like a Sunflora...in fact isn’t that some sort of charm on its head, Sunflora if I remember correctly don’t have that, but Meowth’s on the other hand?” Harmony mutters looking at the image Jenny held up. It almost looked like Team Rocket with Meowth disguised as Sunflora. From what Harmony could tell with the not so great security footage.

But it's the Pokémon bard, Nando and his Sunflora that have been cornered by the Officer Jenny of Eterna City. Luckily, the group of teens and their recent acquaintance Gardenia, are ready to vouch for Nando's innocence.

“Wait! You’re the Gym Leader!” Harmony cries out before sulking. “You didn't tell us when we met in the forest,” she says with a pout on her face before she gets a lightbulb over her head. “Are you looking for other grass types!? I can get you in touch with our Galarian Grass-type gym leader! He’s newer to it but it’d be great!” she tells her only to be nudged by Ash. “Oh...uh yeah...wrong time to ask that… sorry.”

This is a day for duplicates, because there's another Officer Jenny in town from Viridian City, too. Everyone splits up to search the Museum for the real culprit, with the Eterna City police very eager to find the Orb first and uphold the honor of their department. 

But it was Piplup, Pikachu, and Nando's Sunflora who spotted Team Rocket gloating over their theft, and soon backup was on the way.

Now that Meowth is no longer in the Sunflora costume, Team Rocket tried to easily bluff their way out of the problem they put themselves in, but they had no such luck in doing so.

It was too risky to battle Team Rocket while they were holding the precious Orb, so Officer Jenny from Eterna City has her Stunky spray Team Rocket with its powerful stench. 

Harmony was able to retrieve the Orb. Though once she touched it she felt as though the time was familiar to her, and as if it was welcoming her, almost putting her into some sort of trance before Giardina took it from her to keep safe.

It then was a simple matter to defeat Team Rocket. 

However, it left the teens to ponder the legends surrounding Dialga and Palkia... as well as the true motivation behind this attempted theft of something so historically important and so valuable. 

Especially what was the Original One and what did it have to do with Dialga and Palkia? What could someone want with it? And why did Harmony feel some sort of connection with it, to begin with?

__________________________


	16. Gym Battles are Hard and New Members are Cute!

The following morning it was time for Harmony’s battle against Gardenia, and she was overly pumped up, Chu, her Pikachu, and Lyn her Shinx were geared up ready for the battle they’d been waiting for. Cinders, her Cinderace was pouting off to the side. 

“Cinders, I know you want to battle, you love battling against Grass-types, but I don’t want to heavily rely on you, Lyn here needs to be experiencing Gym battles too. How about I use you in the net contest?” she offers her teammate, “Ater all we’ve been perfecting that combo with Pyro ball and a Blaze kick.” she responds rubbing the head of her silly rabbit pokemon who gave in and let out a purr. “You’re our last resort, especially since I am not using Pip, he’s still not ready, and grass type won’t help him right now.”

“Harmony! You ready for the gym?!” Ash calls out from the other room they had rented at the Pokemon Center.

“I am! though you better watch and pay close attention, after all, she might use the same or some of the same pokemon tomorrow for your battle,” she points out too him grinning as Chu jumped up on her should and Lyn crawled into her arms as she got up. Cinders pouting a bit, “Sorry buddy, you’re too big to be on my shoulder, you aren’t a little Scorbunny anymore.”

_____________

When they got to the gym Harmony and Gardenia quickly started their battle. And it didn’t take long for Harmony to have Lyn take out Cherubi, but with being already tired she was no match for Roserade’s power and she had to switch out to Chu who happily took down it with a strong thunderbolt. 

However, once Gardenia’s Turtwig came out, even with Harmony telling Chu to use quite a bit of Quick-Attacks it was no match for that speed, and Chu got wiped out. Having to use her trump card was a bit saddening to Harmony, seeing as her Cinderace was quite a bit higher and more trained than others were. But she wasn’t going to take it as an easy victory until she actually won. 

Thankfully her Cinders was so much faster than the Turtwig and were able to use combinations to throw Gardenia off and get in more hits towards her Turtwig than before, even managing to avoid plenty of tried at using Leech seed. And she won the battle. 

“We did it! You did it Cinders!” she cries out rushing towards her panting teammate and hugging the rabbit who was just a bit taller than her, though she could easily grow a bit more to be taller.

“I might've said it before, but you're really tough! Wasn't it hard for you to raise your Pokémon to be so good? I guess that's a measure of how much you love your Pokémon. In recognition of that, I proudly grant you this!” Gardenia says outside the gym handing Harmony a cushion which had the Forest badge placed upon it. Harmony had gotten Lyn back out to happily pose with their pose they had, the Blastoise pose. 

“We just earned ourselves the Forest badge!” Harmony cheers before Ash rushed up to look at it in excitement the two chatterings about strategies that he might use tomorrow for his battle.

__________________

The time had finally come for Ash's Eterna Gym Battle with Gym Leader Gardenia, who Harmony had beaten the day before, which made him overly excited and ready to win just as she had.

“Ash please calm down! The more worked up you are the more likely you’re gonna be distracted!” Harmony tells him laughing as he dragged her by her hand away from the Pokemon Center and off towards the Eterna Gym.”Gardenia’s not going anywhere, she’ll be there we don’t have to rush.”

“Yeah...you’re right, but I’m so stoked after watching you battle yesterday that I can’t be bothered to wait another minute! We’re going to win this battle for sure! ISn’t that right Pikachu?” Ash says glancing at his shoulder where Pikachu rested giving him a thumbs up and cheering. 

“And that is nice, but aren’t you forgetting something? We didn’t tell Brock or Dawn we were leaving!” Harmony points out to him making Ash gasp and look back with horror on his face.

“We forgot them! I thought you reminded them?”

“When was it my responsibility to call out to them? You dragged me off as soon as I was dressed and ready.”Harmony points out as Ash gaps once more tugging her back a bit though sighing in relief when he spotted Dawn and Brock who were rushing towards them.

“See? All is good,” Ash says sheepishly. 

“Ash Ketchum! You left us behind! We turn away to get ready and you and Harmony disappear!” Dawn cries out to the two teens. “We wanted to cheer you on but can’t if you rush off without us!”

“I know...I know...I’m sorry, but now that we’re all together again let’s go!” Ash says moving once more and tugging Harmony off with him, making her laugh at his antics, some things would never change.

_______________

The battle was going to be a 3-on-3, starting with Ash's Turtwig against Gardenia's Cherubi. 

The sun was shining brightly out and that meant that Cherubi's Chlorophyll ability gives it a speed boost, so before long Ash recalls Turtwig and swaps in Staravia.

Ash ends up using the weather to his advantage. He has Staravia dive at Cherubi, using the glare of the sun as a distraction, and Staravia wins this round. 

Next up was Gardenia's Turtwig. And although Ash has a strategy to neutralize her Turtwig's speed, Gardenia’s Turtwig still manages to knock Staravia out with Leech Seed.

Following Staravia’s defeat, Ash sends out his own Turtwig against Gardenia's Turtwig. 

The two Pokémon had faced each other before in Eterna Forest and neither one wanted to lo, especially Ash’s Turtwig as it had a disadvantage with speed. 

Ash's Turtwig won the round, but it's had been weakened by a Leech Seed from Gardenia's Turtwig. 

Leaving her to her last pokemon was Gardenia's Roserade, who was easily able to defeat Ash's Turtwig. 

That just meant that Ash had Aipom is ready to go next, and with more of Ash's quick strategizing wins the final round, and earned his Forest Badge!

“You did it!” Harmony cried out, rushing away from the sidelines and moves to quickly hug Ash, who ends up wrapping his arms a bit lower on her back until Dawn coughs a bit making them part and separate a few feet away from each other.

“Congratulations Ash,” Harmony says a bit softer, her cheeks aflame as she refused to really look at Ash straight on only to catch Dawn’s eye that had the look of ‘we are going to talk about what just happened later’ making her eyes widen.

___________

“Hey Harmony, you wanna doing some training outside” Dawn offers to Harmony who was looking at her phone.

“Huh? I mean sure! Did you hear there’s a contest being held at Alamos Town, it’s supposed to be held in this beautiful place called the Space-Time Towers.” Harmony says holding her phone out to her friend who peeked over to look at the beautiful arena. “Good thing about it is that it’s on the way towards where we can find the next gym. In Hearthome city. Of course, we’ll have to go through Cycling Road first.” Harmony tells her.

“That looks beautiful! We are for sure going there next!” Dawn says with a grin, “I can’t wait! Which means we really need to train! Bigger is better and that’s what we’re going to do!” Dawn says raising her fist in the air. “But that’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. What was with that moment you and Ash had back at the gym?”

“Wh-what moment? We didn’t have a moment!” Harmony’s voice goes a pitch higher and her cheeks start flushing a Scizor red. “I do not know what you are talking about, because whatever you thought you saw you didn’t!”  


“Uh-huh, and you’re sure you don’t like him?” Dawn says with a grin on her face, watching Harmony’s reaction.

“I do not!” Harmony denies shaking her head, “I thought you wanted to train for contests, why am I being interrogated?” she says.

Dawn sighs, “Fine, deny it all you want, but I see it loud and clear, you two are way too oblivious for your own good.” she murmurs. “It’s gonna take some disaster for you to actually admit it.”

“Even if I did like Ash, I doubt he’d return the feelings after all his head is always in the clouds or always thinking about battles, I doubt he has time to think about girls,” she admits huffing before Dawn rolls her eyes and shrugs grabbing her wrist and dragging her back towards the Pokemon Center’s battlefield where they trained for a good hour.

____________

The following day the group of teens were taking the Cycling Road toward Alamos Town which was on the way to Hearthrome City.

But the weather was not having it as it turned bad, on top of that Brock's Pokémon Egg looked as though it was about to hatch, they quickly had to take refuge at the nearest Pokémon Center. 

However, the Nurse Joy at the Center has a serious case of the blues. Thanks to the Cycling Road, everyone pedals right past her Pokémon Center and she had convinced herself that it was her fault that the place is so empty.

With a little encouragement from the group of teens, Nurse Joy gets back some confidence in time to help hatch Brock's Pokémon Egg, which turns out to be a Happiny.

Everyone had fun taking care of Happiny, until Team Rocket showed up, snatches it, and makes a getaway in their Meowth balloon. 

Jessie wanted Happiny to evolve into Chansey and become a nurse! 

Brock and the rest of the teens had to rush after and chase down Team Rocket while also trying to keep Nurse Joy's spirits up

The teens finally caught up with Team Rocket and Nurse Joy is feeling confident enough to help the teens battle, too.

But to the surprise of everyone pint-sized Happiny turns out to be so strong, it clobbered Team Rocket on its own. 

Pikachu and Chu help finish the battle with a double Thunderbolt, and then the teens are ready to get back on the road towards Alamos Town where Harmony and Dawn’s next contest was to be held and further closer to Hearthome City, where the next gym awaited Ash and Harmony. Oh, and course Nurse Joy was ready to get back to work thanks to the teens.


	17. Top-Down Training!

The group of teens having stopped at another Pokemon Center watch the televised battle between Lucian versus Champion Cynthia from the comforts of a Pokémon Center. 

They watched as Lucian’s Bronzong used its Flash Cannon on Garchomp. Garchomp comes out unscathed by blocking the attack with its fin. Garchomp follows up with Giga Impact, knocking out Lucian's Bronzong.

Cynthia had successfully defended her Champion title. 

“Wow isn’t she so powerful?” Ash says with awe.

“She sure is, I mean it takes a lot to be champion of a region, it’s not something anyone can be Ash, and it’s a lot of work that’s for sure,” Harmony says with a grin, “It’s a lot of paperwork, that’s for sure.” she jokes, knowing full well that was what Leon complained about the most was the paperwork.

Though as the teens were talking amongst each other they overheard a young Trainer informing his friends that Cynthia is over in Amity Square, so of course, Ash wanted to check it out as well.

After spotting Cynthia as she had made her way over to the nearby ruins featuring images of Palkia and Dialga. 

This was where the teens found her adding themselves to the crowd surrounding Cynthia. 

All of sudden, Paul showed up. Ash was excited about seeing Paul, saying that he's finally got two Badges. Though after asking how many Paul had received, Paul brushed it off. He then challenged Cynthia to a battle. 

Many people in the crowd were shocked at this action, and even more so when Cynthia agrees. Paul requested a six-on-six match.

Harmony scoffs at Paul's ask of it rolling her eyes, “He’s not nearly strong enough to even take on her Garchomp let alone a full six on six.” she points with narrowed eyes, “He’s up to something.”

Cynthia called out her Garchomp, while Paul chose Chimchar; a choice that surprised Cynthia, as well as the crowd, due to its disadvantage as a Fire-type. 

Paul commanded Chimchar to use Fire Spin and then Dig. Once hit with Fire Spin, Garchomp also uses Dig under Cynthia's command. Garchomp strikes her opponent underground, knocking Chimchar out. 

As Paul recalls it, he scolds it for its loss, which doesn't sit too well with either Cynthia or Ash who was fuming at Harmony’s side.

“Calm down, please?” Harmony whispers to him, “It might just be something else, he’s not hurting Chimchar, please calm down Ash.” she says her hand moving to rest on his arm with a look of worry in her eyes at the amount of Anger in his.

Paul then called out his Weavile, a much better type matchup. He ordered Weavile to use a Blizzard attack, and despite being a super-effective hit, it did not faze Garchomp at all. 

Garchomp then used Dragon Rush, which caused Weavile to freeze instead of trying to dodge. Paul yells at Weavile to use Ice Beam. However, Garchomp dodged the attack not once, but twice and slams itself into Weavile, knocking it out cold. 

Paul then sent out his Murkrow. Immediately, he tells Murkrow to use Haze, which Garchomp dodged with ease. Murkrow flew behind Garchomp and Paul told it to use a Sky Attack. Cynthia had Garchomp counter with Giga Impact. After returning the fallen Murkrow, Paul smirked to himself, leaving everyone confused as he had lost half of his team in short order.

Paul called out his Torterra and started things off with a Giga Drain. Since Giga Impact left Garchomp unable to move for at least a turn, the Giga Drain hit its mark and managed to weaken Garchomp.

Torterra followed up with Frenzy Plant, though Garchomp blocked the attack with its fins, much to Paul's astonishment. 

Cynthia then told her Garchomp to use Brick Break. Garchomp pushed the Frenzy Plant vines away and jumped into the air, hitting Torterra with Brick Break on its head, taking it down and out. 

Paul then gave up the battle, to which the crowd responded by poking fun at him. Ash, with newfound respect, rebuked the crowd and complimented Paul on a great battle. 

Paul says goodbye to Cynthia and walks away. 

As he walked away both Harmony and Ash realized that wasn’t where the Pokémon Center was.

“Paul waits, you're going the wrong way, your Pokemon suffered quite a bit and need to be looked at by Nurse oy, or someone at least,” Harmony says moving over to stop the teen from leaving.

“You know I quite agree with Harmony about that Paul, your Pokemon fought hard and need to rest a bit,” Cynthia speaks up. 

This made Harmony freeze a bit, she hadn’t expected Cynthia to remember her, after all, she had only met her a few times in Champion League meetings and those silly Gala’s that Leon dragged her to, no matter how much she kicked and pouted he wouldn’t let her leave early from those things. That being her mingling and hiding out only for her to end up meeting a few other trainers that were highly more skilled than her.

Cynthia’s remark about using Harmony’s name made her friends look at her with a gaping mouth and she flushes. 

“Later, I’ll tell you later,” she murmurs, shoving Ash a bit as he had swamped to her side looking like he had a million questions about what just had happened for her to know the Champion of the Sinnoh region.

_________________

Unfortunately, when the group got there, Nurse Joy claims that she needed to perform surgery on an injured Pokémon. 

Cynthia decided to heal Paul's Pokémon by herself, to which Brock told her that he'd love to help out. Croagunk decided to come out of his Poké Ball to use Poison Jab on Brock but stops once he sees Cynthia smiling at him, and blushes instead. 

Cynthia was quickly able to treat Paul's Torterra with a Super Potion.

Cynthia was then able to move on to Chimchar, giving it a pill and encouraged it to rest up.

Cynthia then told Paul that his Pokémon were all healed and very well trained, especially his 

Torterra. Paul reveals that Torterra was his starter Pokémon. He also says that he had traveled around Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto, explaining that this is where he caught his Murkrow and Weavile. Along with failing to win any of their Pokémon League Conferences, before coming back to Sinnoh, where he caught Chimchar. 

When Cynthia complimented Chimchar, Paul complained with a scoff that Chimchar didn't do well against Garchomp.

Ash then argued that Paul didn't care how many Pokémon got hurt, though Paul defended his training methods. 

On top of that Harmony grabbed Ash’s arm trying to calm the other teen down, but Ash was still becoming angrier, saying that he has to support his Pokémon. 

Upon Paul saying that he wanted to become stronger, Cynthia took everyone back to the stone tablet in Amity Square and read it to them. 

Harmony though was half-listening, as she looked at the tablet tilting her head in confusion. Just like before with the Adamant Orb she felt some sort of connection towards the tablet and she couldn’t figure out why, but it was broken when Cynthia started talking about it.

Cynthia claimed that before reading this tablet herself, she used to train endlessly. Then she discovered that all Pokémon have different personalities and she wanted to get to know all of them.

_________________

On their way back to the Pokemon Center Harmony and Cynthia were the first to notice Team Rocket, the others soon also took notice of the trio and started to chase after them. 

Team Rocket, however, was able to reach their balloon and begin their ascent. It was then that Chimchar then woke up, and quickly used Ember on Team Rocket. 

Before Ash can react and call out Staravia, and Harmony could call out her Braviary, Paul sent out his Ursaring and told it to use Hyper Beam. Chimchar jumps away from Team Rocket right before the attack collides with them, and sent them blasting off.

Chimchar fell to the ground, getting injured once more. However, Paul didn’t seem to care, as he called Chimchar useless for being captured by Team Rocket. 

Dawn called Paul out, as she was getting fed up with his attitude towards pokemon. But Harmony and Cynthia are able to stop the yelling, pointing out that what mattered now is that Chimchar is okay. Cynthia however, advised Paul to stay the night at the Center, and he accepted her recommendation.

_________________

Later that evening, Cynthia and the group of teens watch as Sinnoh Now reported that the Lustrous Orb, an item related to the Legendary Pokémon Palkia, had just been uncovered by archaeologists at the Celestic Town ruins.

The Lustrous Orb was related to the Adamant Orb, the one they had seen almost be stolen in Eterna Historical Museum a few days prior. Cynthia then decided it is time to head to Celestic Town, saying goodbye to the group of teens.

“Wait! Cyntia!” Harmony calls out handing Chu to Ash as she raced after the champion of Sinnoh.

“I had a question!” she states stopping a bit to catch her breath as Cynthia turned around to face her. “When you were at that tablet, like the first time or even now, do you get a feeling or something?” she asks softly, “Because I got the same feeling I did when we ran into the Adamant Orb, back in Eterna City. It felt welcoming and also relieved like I was getting into something that I had been missing my entire life.” she admits.

Cynthia hums, “It could be possible, I understand getting a feeling of sorts Harmony, but what you’re describing is not one I’ve seen or felt, I might have to ask my grandmother about it, but I do not have an answer for you. I’m sorry Harmony.” she says.

Harmony sighs, “Alright, I figured I should at least ask, it’s weird, I’ve studied in the Vault in Galar but never had this kind of feeling with those relics, that’s why I thought something was wrong. Thank you though, I hope we see you again! Take care!” she calls out waving to the champion.

As she did so Chu raced up to her jumping on her shoulder and nuzzling her cheek, “Oh hi Chu, how are you?” she says rubbing the head of her partner who cooed happily.

“Everything okay? You rushed off to talk with Cynthia and she seemed to get worried?” Ash’s voice trails off to her as she turns around to see him in the Pokemon Center’s doorway..

“Yeah, everything's fine, I had a question about the ruins. Her grandmother might reach out and let me know something if she finds anything. Are you ready to head to Alamos Town? Because I can't wait for that contest, it’s going to be so pretty to see and use the surrounding stage to my pokemon's advantage! And I bet there will be plenty of trainers to battle there too!” she tells him as the two walk back inside conversing about what they will do the next few days until they reach Alamos Town.

_________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter is done! Next time we see the group of four is at Alamos Town with trouble from Darkrai! 


	18. The Rise of Darkrai

The night before they would reach Alamos Town while sleeping Harmony had the strangest of dreams, she saw the time and space towers also hearing Dialga and Palkia fighting with each other every time they crashed into each other she would wince and hiss in pain before everything started to blur around her waking her up.

Sitting up with a gasp Harmony rubbed her eyes in confusion and noticing Dawn and Piplup were still asleep she quickly slipped out of her and Dawn’s tent. She spotted Ash snoring in his sleeping bag and Chu and Pikachu snuggled together sound asleep making her smile. She moved off a bit to look out into the distance watching the sun start to rise.

“I can’t remember much about that dream, but I sure hope it was just that, and nothing else.” she whispers to the wind, watching out into the distance, “After all that didn’t feel or look like it was a battle, it looked like it was a fight to death situation,” she mumbles.

_________

Once camp was packed up and the group of four teens were back on the road Harmony glared at Brock about directions.

“C’mon Brock let me see the map!” Harmony says with a huff, “There was a sign pointing the other way towards Alamos town, I think we took the wrong trail to get to the entrance. The guidebook said it was surrounded mostly by water.” she points out earning a huff from Brock who was sure they were going the right way.

Just as Harmony had predicted they were on the wrong path, they needed to be headed the other way to get in, as Harmony mentioned the town was semi-surrounded by water. “See, now how are we going to get there in time, it’s going to take ages to walk around this, and even if I have Braviary take us one by one across he’d be too tired by the second trip.”

“And I’m exhausted!” Dawn says with a groan nearly falling on her butt to prove her point.

“Me too,” Ash complains.

“Would you all like a lift!?” A voice calls from above making Harmony, glance o with a gasp.

“Woah a hot air balloon!” Harmony cries out with wide eyes with a sense of wonder in them.

“Hi, there!” A lady who was making Brock go love-struck as usually called out, her Chimchar happily greeting them too making Harmony grin at how cute it was. It may not be a water or electric type, but it was still cute.

___________

“We can’t thank you enough for your kindness!” Brock says gushing at the lady who let the group of teens into her hot air balloon in order to get to Alamos Town. “My name is Brock, would you honor us by telling us your name?”

“My name’s Alice,” Alice responds.

“So it's Alice from Alamos Town!” Brock says before fishing out a book flipping through it, “I can’t believe I don’t have you written down in my little blue book of babes! Silly me!” he says, making Harmony groan and shove him.

“Ignore him, he’s a bit of a flirtatious mess, thank you for getting us here, I’m Harmony” Harmony starts to tell her but Brock shoves her back out of the way to flirt more.

“There’s only one thing to do! Let me take you out!” Brock says only to cry out in pain as Crogunk had let himself out to Poison Jab him making Harmony sigh in relief.

“My names Dawn,” Dawn tells her, “Harmony and I are entering the Alamos Pokemon Contest that’s happening later this week,” she admits and Harmony beams.

“Yeah! We’re really excited it’s going to look dazzling with what Pip, my Piplup, and I have been training to do! And of course, I’m going fancy with having my Cursola as well, which none of you have met yet.”

“Hi, I’m Ash, and this is my Partner Pikachu, and this is Harmony’s Pikachu Chu who’s on my other shoulder.” Ash points out, the female Pikachu cooing happily and flashing her ribboned tail to point out the difference between the two before jumping into Harmony’s arms.

It was then that Alice’s Chimchar blew more fire into the balloon making them go higher and a bit faster.

“Awesome! We’re really moving!” Ash states looking over the edge next to Harmony.

“We really are, glad I’m not afraid of heights,” Harmony jokes.

“What a pretty lake!” Dawn says from the other side of the basket.

“YEAH not as pretty as Alice!” Brock says recovering from Crogunk’s Poison Jab.

“You’re quick,” Ash states bewildered.

“He’s used to it,” Harmony says with a shrug.

“Well I work part-time as a hot air balloon tour guide,” Alice points out making Harmony grin.

“Does that mean you could give us a tour?” she asks with a hopeful look on her face.

“Maybe, though I mostly spend my time as a music student,” Alice pointed out fishing a leaf from her pocket and making a beautiful sound that Harmony instantly felt the effects on and her eyes drooped a bit as she relaxed at the sound; like her worries had washed away.

“Wow, a leaf whistle?” Dawn says with awe.

As Alice blew her tune out a bunch of bird pokemon lew over and flew off beautifully in a direction away once she finished.

“You see, the pokemon are showing me which way the winds are blowing,” Alice tells the group.

“Woh that’s amazing! That the sound of your whistle allows you to communicate with them a bit,” Harmony says, still feeling relaxed. 

“Okay Chimchar!” Alice calls out to her partner who nods and moves over to blow fire to get them to go the right direction. Pikachu and Chu race off to join Chimchar on the top metal bits around the balloon as they get closer to Alamos Town.

________________________

“Look at those towers!” Dawn says with wide eyes 

“Those two towers, they look like the ones in my dream...the ones where the two dragon pokemon were fighting. Yelling at each other like siblings who are fighting.” Harmony whispers her eyes widening and starting to water after looking at them for too long as if something was triggering her to feel sad or upset.

“Those are the Space-Time Towers,” Alice explains.

“Hmmm, oh here! Listen to this.” Brock says as he flips through his booklet, “The brilliant architect Godey designed the Space-Time Towers 100 years ago.” Brock explains.

“Wait that’s where the contest is, inside there right?” Harmony says, “I've seen the inside I didn’t realize that was what it looked like on the inside.” she says with awe, though still a bit confused about what her dream was about or why there was a slight feeling of dread on her.

“Right, that’s where the contest will be held later this week,” Alice says.

Ash furrows his brows, “A hundred years? That’s like ten years times….?” 

“Ten, it’s ten times ten Ash, basic maths.” she jokes to him bumping her side into his and blushing before turning away a bit. Dawn gave her a look again making her cheeks turn a darker red.

“Let’s see, it explains why they’re called Space-Time. The tower on the right represents Time, while the one on the left represents Space,” Brock explains.

“Hey, I could have told you that,” Ash points out at the basic information Brock was giving them.

It was then that Pikachu and Chu’s ears twitched and suddenly a large seemingly gust of wind broke through the air shaking the whole balloon.

Harmony let out a hiss of pain, her head starting to pound a bit as she clung to the side of the balloon and as soon as it happened it was over, yet the pain remained in Harmony’s temple.

“Is everyone okay?” Alice asks.

“Yeah, I think so...” Harmony says softly shutting her eyes briefly and rubbing her temples before opening them trying to shake off that feeling, yet it was still there. Oh well, she’d deal with it, wasn’t the first time she pushed through a headache like that.

“What was that?” Brock asks.

“I suppose it could have been the air currents?” Alice says not so sure herself, “But it sure was strange, sorry if you guys got scared. I know what, I’ll give you that grand tour!” She offered.

“That’d be great!” Ash says excitedly. 

“It sure would!” Harmony says smiling a bit more, trying to push her headache to the side. SHe’d take medicine when they got on the ground in hopes it’d help.

___________

Once the group was on the ground the group heads into town to soak up the sights, eat some cotton candy, and watch some Pokémon battles. 

In his excitement, Ash and Harmony run into a Torterra and its Trainer introduces himself as Maury, quickly followed by his friends Kai with Empoleon and Allegra with Infernape. Harmony and her friends begin to battle their new acquaintances. Pikachu is able to topple Torterra with Iron Tail, while Piplup and Empoleon have a pride contest, and Chu exchanges a flurry of attacks against Infernape. Finally, Piplup and Empoleon battle inside Piplup's Whirlpool, which explodes.

Although the battle was fun, and Harmony had taken some medicine her headache was still going strong and every once in a while she felt herself wincing in slight pain, not unnoticed by Ash who was glancing at her a few times in concern with her waving him off.

_____________

Continuing their sightseeing, the group head down some stairs and stop by a fountain, which leads to a beautiful garden full of wild Pokémon.

“This has got to be my most favorite place in the whole town,” Alice explains as she led the group down the stairs into the gardens.

“It’s breathtakingly beautiful.” Harmony breathes out in awe.

“This whole garden was designed by Godey you know,” Alice explains as the group walks further into the gardens.

“What a beautiful spot,” Brock explains glancing around before looking back down at his guide book, “It says that the design theme of arctic Godey’s brilliant garden is the harmony between humans and Pokemon.” 

“Perfect place for Harmony, right?” Ash jokes to Harmony making her roll her eyes.

“Yeah yeah laugh it up, I love my name but please don’t use it in a terrible joke like that again,” she tells him with a pout on her lips.

A Shinx, Luxio, Azurill, Azumarill, and Marill watched from behind the bushes, but they quickly greeted Lisa once they took notice of her. Sensing an opportunity, the group sends out all their Pokémon to play. 

“Aww, they’re adorable!” Harmony coos moving to race after the Pokemon only for Ash to grab her by her waist making her frown “Aww, but the pokemon!” she whines.

“Later, let’s still explore more!”

“I’ve been playing in this garden ever since I was a little girl, so everyone here is my friend,” Alice tells Ash, making Harmony grin.

“See! We can go play, let’s let everyone out though!” She unclips her pokeballs and tossing them out, releasing Lyn, her Shinx, Pip, her shiny Piplup, Braviary, and Alice, her shiny Ampharos. 

The group of teens and Alice go to the end of a flowery pathway and check out the view of the lake and the mountains, leaving their Pokémon on their own.

“Look at that!” Brock yells out pointing off into the distance.

“Woah!” Dawn says with excitement.

The group of teens got interrupted by their sightseeing of the land around them when they saw blue electricity and pokemon moves being thrown around.

“Oh no! That looked like Lyn’s electricity!” Harmony cries out rushing away from her friends, who were right on her heels.

Noticing the wild pokemon of the garden were now upset along with some of their pokemon the trainers rushed faster to get to them.

“Hey! Knock it off!” Harmony and Ash cry out.

“Stop fighting!” Dawn cries out

Alice then starts playing her leaf whistle again, which makes all the pokemon calm down and for Harmony to abruptly stop only for Ash to crash into her, not realizing it before it was too late.

“Of! Oww, Ash get off you’re heavy,” Harmony mumbles from the group, with the other teens' weight on her back.

“S...sorry Harmony! Ash says bashfully helping her up.

“It’s okay, sorry for stopping so suddenly,” she whispers her eyes still glancing at Alice as Ash tugged her back up the stairs.

“What a beautiful song, “ Dawn compliments.

“My grandmother taught it to me,” Alice tells them, making Harmony smile.

“That must make it even more special.”

“It was just so moving!” Brock says getting a bit ga-ga once again.

“Thank you, Brock,” Alice says with a small giggle 

Interrupting their moment, a Gallade jumps through some trees in front of everyone.

“What Gallade?” Alice asks going closer to the pokemon as it points out something was wrong. “What happened?” she asks and Gallade jumps a bit up the stairs continuing it’s pointing off in the distance.

“I think something’s wrong...and I don’t like the feeling I’m getting…” Harmony says softly as Alice starts to rush off after Gallade.

“Chimchar!” Alice calls out to her pokemon who rushes after them.

“C’mon guys!” Ash calls out as the teens return most of their pokemon with Chu and Pikachu rushing with their trainers.

Gallade stops where there were some strangely distorted pillars.

“This is terrible,” Alice says sadly, “Who could have done this?”

“It was Darkrai!” A masculine voice from behind everyone calls out

“Huh?” the group calls out in confusion.

A rather confident man comes out of an opening, greets them.

“Alberto!” Alice says slightly shocked.

“It appears there have been recent sightings in town,” Alberto says.

“Uh, excuse me, who’s Darkrai?” Ash asks as Pikachu jumps onto Ash’s shoulder with Chu doing the same onto Harmony’s.

“The pokemon who wreaked this havoc!” Alberto says stamping his foot on the distorted pillars.

“Pokemon?” Dawn gaps.

“Darkrai must live here in this garden,” Alice points out.

“I’ve heard of Darkrai before…” Brock states.

“It’s a Dark-type but acts almost like a ghost type, usually associated with nightmares. They tend to live in the shadows. Darkrai’s don’t usually interact with humans though...why would it be causing trouble?” Harmony asks in confusion looking up from her phone she had pulled out to search for more information on Darkrai.

“Nightmares?” Ash asks bewildered that there was a pokemon like that.

“Usually one has Cresilia help out with it, the use of her feathers helps ward Darkrai away or so that’s what it says.” Harmony points out looking up with a small nod.

As Alberto continues to talk about Darkrai and what’s been seen about it there was a rustle in the grass getting everyone’s attention.

“Hear that?” Alice asks and Alberto gets a Pokeball out.

“Darkrai! Huh!” he says tossing the Pokeball up in the air releasing a Lickilicky. “Licilicky! Hyper Beam!” he calls out, making Harmony frown at the brutality he was willing to take to attack Darkrai.

The move hit, but instead of it hitting Darkrai it hit another man, “Now,...what did you do that for?” he says in broken words before hitting the tree in front of him making Harmony wince. 

“That’s got to hurt…” Harmony winces out.

“Tonio!” Alice cries out rushing towards the man to help him up.

“You okay?” Alice asks Tonio who nods his head. “This is my friend Tonio, he’s a scientist,” she explains.

“I was investigating a space-time abnormality that I had detected,” Tonio explains, “Something has happened.” 

Tonio goes to inspect the pillars up close as Alberto walks closer.

“It isn’t possible,” Tonio says with confusion only to have a piece of the pillar break off and hit him on the head causing Alice to gasp.

“Tonio!” Alice cries out as Tonio groans out in pain.

“No, no, I’m fine. Really.” Tonio states rubbing his head. Trying to reassure Alice.

“Alice, you don’t have to be so nice to him,” Alberto speaks up cockily.

“Alberto,” Alice says confused.

“After all my dear you are to be my wife, remember?” he says placing a hand on her shoulder flirtily though Alice gave an uncomfortable look towards him making Harmony narrow her eyes. Clearly Alice was not liking it one bit.

Brock didn’t take it lightly gasping out.

“No way!” Dawn says with wide eyes.

Alice forcefully pushes Alberto away, “Excuse me! But I remember telling you no already!” she says with a bit of anger, “Come on, I’m a bit too young to think about marriage.”

“Please forgive me, this isn’t the time or place for that kind of talk,” Alberto says trying to get out of the hole he dug himself in, “Now that that’s done, why don’t you come on over to my place for a little dinner….” he starts flirting which Harmony and Dawn gave each other a look and forcefully shoved the two apart.

“Cool it!” Dawn says with a glare.

“Alice is clearly not interested in you.” Harmony pipes up along with her friend.

Chimchar rushes to his trainer and angrily calls out to Alberto.

Alberto wags his finger, “Excuse me, young ladies. Butt Out!” he yells at the two teens making Harmony glare at him further.

“Tonio who is that guy?” Ash finally asks.

“Barron Alberto,” Toni whispers to the teen.

“So Alice, let’s get going,” Alberto tries once more but Alice maneuvers away and grasps Tonio’s arm and Chimchar yells out angrily at him again.

“You see Tonio’s the one I like!” Alice declares.

“W-wha? I am?” Tonio says with a shocked expression.

“Haha you have quite a sense of humor, my dear,” Alberto says laughing.

“So, this was all just a little joke, heheha” Tonio says almost sounding relieved while Alice glares at both males.

“Joke? Hmm,” Alice huffs.

It was then that Pikachu and Chu sensed that something was wrong, as the area began to glow, and Tonio’s laptop screen showed a major disturbance in time and space.

Just as before Harmony’s head starts to throb and she lets out a hiss of pain stumbling a bit only for Ash to grab hold of her looking at her in worry.

“Not again….what is it? Such a strange phenomenon .” Tonio says, taking back his laptop from Alice.

A dark shadow moves around the trees.

Harmony still close in Ash’s arms looks up a bit burrowing her brows, “Ash...something’s there.” she whispers and Ash calls out to the rest of the group pointing it out while tightening his hold on the shorter female he had pulled close.

Eventually, the shadow revealed itself to be Darkrai.

Do not come here!

Harmony let out a small groan, her face hiding against Ash’s shoulder unintentionally. It felt as if Darkrai was directing that tone at her though she couldn’t fathom why. 

“It’s Darkrai!” Tonio says and Alberto looks almost gleeful at Darkrai coming out.

“I’d say so!”Alberto states with a smirk.

“Darkrai?” Dawn gasps out.

“‘Fraid so!” Ash says through gritted teeth, his grip tightening the slightest against Harmony a weird feeling stirring in him making him feel the need to protect her, even if deep down he knew she was so much stronger, whatever was going on was affecting her.

“So it was you after all Darkrai, Go Lickilicky!” Alberto calls out to his pokemon who fired off another hyper beam which Darkrai easily dodged by going in the shadows.

“What!?” Alberto calls out 

“It’s gone!” Ash cries out.

It then appeared and fired off a Dar Void towards Lickilicky who dodged it. 

The only problem with Lickilicky dodging was that it headed straight for Ash and Harmony. As Harmony had been in Ash’s arms, not only was Ash hit with the weird orb from Darkrai but she had been hit as well, the two locked in a nightmare. 

___________

When Harmony fell to the floor she glanced around in confusion.

“Wasn’t I just with the others?” she whispers rather confused and slightly scared. Patting her pockets she couldn’t find her phone and everything had a grey tint to it. “Whatever Darkrai did it hit both Ash and I…,” she says with a whimper. 

As she started to walk her shadow did not follow her instead it turned into Darkrai who engulfed the area around her as it showed her something.

Make them go away! 

She heard Darkrai state making her confused. “Me? How in the bloody hell am I supposed to make whatever that is you showed me. Which wasn’t a great image, thank you very much, go away!?” she cried out to the Dark-type who didn’t respond instead a big hole appeared sucking things into it. 

Harmony noticed Chu and Alice, her Pikachu and Shiny Ampharos standing there making her cry out, “Chu! Alice!” she cried out rushing towards her two pokemon, eventually, she reached them only for them to all get sucked down the hole, with the two electric types thunderbolting her.

__________________

With her being electrocuted brought her back to being awake.

“Chu? Alice?” Harmony mumbles sleepily before fully waking up, “You're both okay!” she cried out sitting up like a bolt of lightning had struck her, oh wait it had and hugged her two pokemon dearly.

Harmony heard Dawn call out to Ash to stop squeezing Pikachu making her glance around the room, noticing they were in the Pokemon Center, or at least that’s what she thought it was.

“Huh? Where am I? Is Harmony okay!” were the first things Ash called out making her chuckle a bit.

“I’m okay, I don’t know what happened to you but Darrai showed me something, and yelled at me…” She murmured, “Can’t figure out why though,” she admits.

Ash lets out a sigh of relief as he glances at Harmony a bit better before turning to look at Nurse Joy.

“You two were having such horrible nightmares after Darkrai put you both to sleep,” Nurse oy explains with a worried expression on her face.

“It was all just a dream?” Ash says looking down at Pikachu with slight confusion over what he had seen.

“Creating bad dreams is Darkrai’s special ability. If you ever fall asleep near Darkrai you’ll have terrible nightmares” Nurse Joy further explains.

“You two were really in a bad way,” Brock points out, “At one point Harmony had somehow ended up tossing Chu off the bed.”

“Oops, sorry Chu.” Harmony murmurs rubbing her partner’s head. 

“Darkrai doesn’t normally come out when there are people around,” Nurse Joy says worriedly.

“I thought that too, it was highly unusual. But then again there are unusual things always happening especially when we got here, maybe that has to do with it?” Harmony theorizes as Alice, her Ampharos nuzzles her hand demanding to get pets.

“So I don’t think these townspeople are liking it one bit,” Brock points out.

“Because of all those nightmares, even the other pokemon stay away from Darkrai,” 

“That sounds kinda sad,” Harmony murmurs, “I’d hate it if others kept away from me because of something I don’t necessarily have control over,”

“Well, no one wants to have a nightmare Harmony,” Dawn points out sheepishly, making her sigh.

“I know, you’re right Dawn.”

“If I ever come across that Darkrai, I’ll give him a battle but good,” Ash cries out raising his fist. 

“Wait, remember it was Baron Alberto who attacked first,” Alice points out to Ash.

“I have to look at more Data!” Tonio states having been looking at something on the floor.

“Huh? Tonio?” Alice says, glancing at her friend as he left the room.

As Tonio starts to leave he doesn’t watch where he goes running into the wall before the stairs.

“That’s Tonio for you, once he gets something on his mind, that’s that,” she says trying to hold back a laugh.

Harmony and Ash peek over her to see what had happened, with Harmony leaning a bit more on Ash before pulling away as her cheeks heated up a bit.

_______________

The next morning the group of teens were walking around while Dawn had bought a Lunar Wing, more than likely just a fake though, from a street cart while Ash and Harmony were seemingly sticking together at the hip, both still slightly shook over the previous day's events.

Ash however was trying to figure out why he felt the need to stay closer to Harmony, after all, he hadn’t felt this way towards Dawn. But with Harmony, he just got that feeling, and he couldn't figure out why.

“No need to worry about nightmares now!” Dawn cries out happily holding the Lunar wing closer to her.

“You do know that it’s more than likely not real though, right Dawn? It’s just a Placebo kind of thing more than likely,” Harmony points out to her friend with a sad look.

“Even if it is fake and a placebo I don’t care, it was worth it!”

“Man I sure hope that thing works, “ Ash mutters to himself causing Harmony to brown.

“I do too, whatever Darkrai is up to, or whatever it’s warning is...I don’t really want to find out,” she says to him.

Alice moves closer to the two teens a bit of worry on her face, “Is something bothering you two?”

“Huh?” Harmony says glancing up at the young adult woman.

“Nah, we’re fine,” Ash says and soon after the bells started ringing from the Space-Time towers creating a beautiful melody

“Beautiful…” Harmony says softly.

___________

“And this is the site of the Alamos Town Pokemon Contest.”

“Gorgeous! This will be so much fun!” Harmony cries out here eyes sparkling as she thought further on what she could do with this big of a stage.

“I am so psyched!” Dawn cries out excitedly, ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow!” 

“And I am going to be the one who wins, so look out Dawn!” Harmony says the two teens give each other playful glares as they grab each other by the hand.

“Oh yeah? Bring it on Harmony! Because that ribbon will be mine for sure!”

_______

“The towers are just as impressive inside as they are on the outside!” Brock exclaims.

“And we’re in the middle,” Alice explains, as they walk over towards the center of the room. Alice points out one side of the area, “This is the space tower” she explains.

“And that’s the time one right?” Harmony asks, pointing over to the pendulum swinging back and forth while Chu watches it with intrigue.

“Right. The architect Godey who designed the Space-Time towers was Tonio’s great-grandfather,” Alice tells the group.

“Woah, really That’s some legend to live up to!” Harmony says with a grin.

“Tonio’s laboratory is directly below us,” Alice explains and the group follows her down the stairs to get there.

After getting down there Alice knocks on the door, “Tonio? It’s Alice!” she calls out pushing the doors open as the group walks inside with looks of awe.

“Sorry to bother you!” Dawn calls out.

“Wow!” Ash says with a grin.

“Tonio?” Alice asks again as she looks around only to spot him on the ground making her gasp and rush over to him. “Tonio!” she cries out rushing to shake him, “Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, Alice! Good morning,” Tonio says to her as she holds him up.

Alice seems to scoff and lets go of him, his head hitting the floor with a thud, “Well, don’t sleep on the floor.” she scolds him.

“Sorry…” Tonio says sheepishly, “I found a reference to the nightmare in Godey’s journal last night. Wish I could have a nightmare.” Tonio admits.

“You really don’t want a nightmare, it’s not something pleasant...like at all…” Harmony says with a shake of her head.

“Not only that, I found a picture of your grandmother,” Tonio states, handing Alice a picture as Ash and Harmony move to peek over Alice’s shoulder to see. “She’s sitting with Godey”

“Grandma Alicia,” Alice says with a smile on her face.

“Looks just like you!” Dawn points out as she and Brock had also moved to see the picture.

As Alice turned the photo over there were music notes that must have played out a song of some sort. “Its music,” 

The Pokemon had gotten into trouble, mainly Piplup who wanted to check things out nearly having a piece of something fall only or Pikachu and Chu to try and grab it before nearly dropping it themselves. Thankfully Ash had spotted what happened and quickly grabbed the disc before it actually fell.

“That was a nice save...I guess?” Ash says glancing at the two Pikachu’s who looked relieved. Ash moved to set the disc back where it was before the pokemon grabbed it.

“What are these by the way Alice?” Harmony asks having spotted not just the one the pokemon messed with, but dozens more.

“Music Discs,” Alice tells her.

“Excuse me?” Ash asks confused

“That’s how the towers music is able to play,” Tonio says pointing to all the discs,” 

“Oh! Can I try it!” Dawn says excitedly.

“I’d like to as well if it’s possible?” Harmony asks, looking hopefully at Alice.

“But to do that we’ll have to walk all the way to the top,” Tonio points out.

“No need to worry!” Dawn says, placing a fist on her chest.

“Oh, no….that’s never a good sign….” Harmony mutters, “On second thought maybe this isn’t a good idea Dawn…”

____________


	19. The Rise of Darkrai (pt2)

____________

“Ugh, me and my big mouth,” Dawn says, exhausted from barely walking up the winding tower.

“It’s not that bad Dawn, honestly stop complaining, we’ve walked further than this in a day, and there isn't a rush.” Harmony points out not nearly as winded as the others.

“Come on Harmony, race you to the top!” Ash calls out to Harmony who grins at him.

“Oh yeah? You’re on!” she calls out laughing as she chases after Ash.

It was a while later when Ash started lagging behind Harmony that she turned around to check on him.

“Oh, man...Me and my big mouth,” Ash complains.

“Oh come on, you’re already tired. This is child's play, Ash Ketchum! We can make it to the top without being this tired!” she says, but then again her adrenaline is pumping as it had been forever since she had gotten to do something this exciting.

It was then that she overheard Ash complaining more when the others passed them in a hot air balloon. “Oh, it is so on now! Come on Ash, we can totally beat them!” she says with a lot more determination than before.

It ended up with Harmony having to ditch Ash as he was being too slow as she finally got to the top, a few minutes before even the group had with the balloon making her grin.

“You guys were kinda slow, but then again, Ash was even slower.” She teased.

“How did you get here so fast! I thought we had you with the balloon!?” Dawn cried out with a small pout.

“My Dearest Dawn, I hate to inform you but there are loads of stairs in Galar, especially in Hammerlock, meaning this is easy and nothing will compare to that,” Harmony says with a wide grin.

“Godey built the Space-Time towers as a beacon of hope for the happiness of people and pokemon,” Alice explains as Dawn follows her to the machine in the middle.

“The happiness of people and pokemon,” Dawn says glancing around with Piplup happily by her side.

“And here’s our own beacon of hope right now,” Brock teases as Ash who looked exhausted finally got to the top of the tower.

“Fiiinallly!” Ash cries out looking ready to collapse making Harmony giggle.

“I guess you finally made it Have a nice climb?'' Harmony teases him as he pants and Pikachu lays spread out making Chu shuffle over to him worriedly poking the other Pikachu’s cheek in concern.

“Normally it’s set to play automatically at the hour, but if there’s something special you want to play…” Tonio states getting the machine ready to put a new disc in.

“You put the discs you need,” Alice finishes, as Dawn grins, placing the disc she had chosen in the spot happily.

“Brock, would you mind?” Alice asks, handing the other disc to Brock.

“Not at all,” Brock says taking it as Alice gets the machine going playing the disc Dawn had just put into the slot

“You see, this tower is the largest musical instrument as well,” Tonio points out as everyone looking around listening to the music lay in awe.

Thankfully, to Ash’s happiness, the group all took the hot air balloon to get back to the ground.

“You know, balloons rock!” Ash points out.

“Well unless its Team Rocket, theirs isn’t that great,” Harmony points out, earning a nod from Ash.

“That is true, those guys are the worst,” he mutters.

_______________

“If it isn’t Ash and Harmony!” Kai states the trainer they had battled before making Harmony grin.

“Hey Kai! Ready for another loose so soon?” She teases with a wide grin on her face

“Oh, you read my mind!” Kai says with a laugh making her grin widen even more.

I need someone to play with Torterra!” Mauray calls out, his Torterra right by his side.

“Come on! Me too!” Allegra calls out, tossing her Pokeball in the air letting her Infernape out.

Harmony calls out to Alice, her Ampharos to battle with Kai, while Ash and Dawn battle Mauray and Allera’s pokemon.

Halfway through the battle Harmony’s head started to pound and her arm suddenly started burning as if she had been hit by something super strong making her wince as she nearly fell to her knees letting out a small cry. “Ahh, bloody hell that hurts!” she cries out one arm grabbing her arm while also trying to hold her head as she shut her eyes. What she didn’t notice was a pink light shining around the town and strong winds to blow through the town.

As soon as the light disappeared Harmony relaxed a bit as the headache stilled a bit not throbbing as much, but she still fell to the ground with a groan of pain that was still in her arm. 

Harmony! Are you okay!” Ash called out, rushing to her side as he helped her up, worried in his eyes as she leaned against him with a small moan of pain. 

“What was that?” Dawn asks curiously and scaredly.

“Mmm, hurts, don’t know why.” Harmony mutters her accent thickening up slightly with the pain she had felt.

“The sky just lit up,” Dawn says, still worried with Piplup agreeing with her.

Make them go away! 

A gruff voice heard from behind them, making Ash and Harmony turn around.

“Huh?” Ash calls out confused.

“Darkrai!” Ash and Harmony call out, the other feeling slightly better and was able to stand back on her own, Chu, Pikachu, and Alice, the Ampharos, got into a battle position.

“Ah-ha! Lickilicky!” Alberto calls out, a camera crew who looks awfully familiar filmed by his side.”There is no escape! Alright, Lickilicky Gyro-ball!” he calls out his Lickilicky following its trainers' command.

Darkrai dodges and uses a mass Dark Void which hits many of the Pokémon on the street, including Dawn’sBuizel and Brock’s Sudowoodo.

Harmony and Ash take of racing towards Darkrai as it tried to speed off.

“Pikachu! Chu and Alice! Use Thunderbolt!” Ash and Harmony call out to their Pikachu’s and Ampharos who charge up thunderbolts only for Darkrai to get into the shadows making them miss.

The duo raced into the alleyways of the town hoping to find Darkrai to get some sort of answers until they suddenly stop when the two see what looks like a Bibarel mysteriously floating through the walls, as Darkrai reappears but continues to dodge Pikachu, Chu, and Alice’s attacks.

“Look Darkrai! The only one leaving here is you!” Ash calls out angrily.

No! I stay, they leave!

Darkrai states his ghostlike finger pointing towards Harmony as if she had something to do with what was going on, making her frown at why Darkrai was directing its words at her in the first place.

“What??” Ash calls out confused as he looks at Harmony who still looked just as confused as he did.

“Let me handle this!” Alberto calls out cockily as he and Lickilicky walk-in front of Ash and Harmony. “Darkrai is mine!”

“It’s the Baron!” Ash says with almost a bit of relief.

“Lickilicky use hyper beam!” Alberto calls out pointing towards Darkrai, who easily dodges and uses Dark void once more this time at Lickilicky.

Alberto checks on Lickilicky as Darkrai disappears again. As the floating Bibarel reappears, more strange occurrences start happening as Alberto turns into a Lickilicky, and he screams at the sight.

“Uh...well then, that is scarier than what Darkrai has been doing that’s for sure,” Harmony says with wide eyes grabbing hold of Ash’s arm to make sure this wasn’t just some weird dream.

____________

Rushing back to the Pokemon Center Harmony and Ash call out “Guys! We have a huge problem

“...er no not huge that’s rude Ash, more like uh big?” Harmony tries to clear up not wanting to offend the Baron based on his new...size.

“We’ve got a problem here too,” Dawn says worriedly.

“Really? Well excuse me, people, you don’t even know the real meaning to problem!” The Baron-Lickilicky says sassily.

“Since when did Lickilicky talk!?” Dawn cries out in a panic pointing at the Baron.

“That’s not Lickilicky! That’s Baron Alberto!” Harmony hisses making Dawn put her arm down “Dawn, that’s rude.” she whispers.

“No way!” Dawn says with a gasp.

“Quick Tonio, turn me back at once!” Antonio states clearly distraught himself as he moved up to Tonio who had been looking at his computer.

“You act like Alberto…” Alice says hesitantly.

“He’s telling the truth!” Ash pipes up from Harmony’s side, the three electric type pokemon nodding in agreement.

“He turned into Lickilicky right in front of us, even the group with the camera got it on film I think,” Harmony points out.

“And us, we saw the thing with our own eyes,” The camerawoman says, huffing as they collapse with the real Lickilicky on the floor.

Tonio was looking at his scans on his computer, “The real world merging with the dream world,” he says with a gasp.

“What are you talking about?” Alice asks.

“All of these pokemon are dreaming that they are being chased by something frightening,” Tonio points out.

“And, what about me!?” Alberto cries out.

“I guess Lickilicky dreamed about turning into you,” Tonio points out making Harmony slightly snicker.

“Say what!?” Alberto cries out as if offended by it.

“The space around our city is being acted out by a powerful force creating a space-time anomaly, resulting in all the strange things we’ve been witnessing,” Tonio points out.

“But why?” Alice asks.

“I don’t know,” Tonio responds.

“It’s that Darkrai!” Alberto states, “Every time it appears strange things happen!” he points out, “Don’t you see!”

“Perhaps…”

“Lickilicky you must wake up this instant and defeat Darkrai!” Alberto calls out to his pokemon, though of course, it wasn’t going to do much to do that.

Kai, Maury, and Allegra rush in concerned, “Listen people we’re stuck!” Allegra points out.

“It’s the craziest thing!” Maury states.

“We’re trapped in the town and can’t leave!” Kai points out making Harmony gasp.

“How, what moved us?” she says tugging Ash along as they rush to the edge of the city.

____________________

Investigating, Allegra brings out her Honchkrow and has it use Defog, but the attack does nothing. Ash and Pikachu try to run through the fog to leave the town, but end up back on the other side of the street instead. 

“Ash? I guess it’s true, we’re stuck in a loop or something maybe?” Harmony tries to theorize a bit confused and slightly scared, she quickly checked her phone, which Roto sadly responded with no signal making her freeze.

“Guys...I think we’re not anywhere in Sinnoh anymore, Rotom can’t get a signal to send any message….which could only mean that we aren’t near any place that has a signal, which is impossible as this is a town…”

“It’s that Darkrai! No doubt about up to one of its evil tricks! And nothings going to change unless we destroy the nasty demon!” Alberto states.

“Pokemon trainers, lend me your ears. Your strength and expertise! We must destroy this loathsome and evil Darkrai! And now, follow me into the fray!”

“Right!” most of the trainers around them call out but Harmony grabs Ash’s arm.

“I think something else is at play Ash, and I don’t think it’s Darkrai causing this, it just doesn’t add up…” Harmony tells him.

“I agree with Harmony, I don’t think Darkrai is behind this.” Alice points out making Harmony smile a bit.

“Huh?”

“What? But it must be Darkrai!” Dawn says with a confused look on her face.

“No, it’s a bit too early to be certain,” Tonio points out looking at his computer, “You see, back when I was a boy, Alice and I were playing together in the garden…” he starts to explain that he witnessed Alice falling off a cliff, and Darkrai appeared to save her. 

Oh, Tonio” Alice says softly her face falling a bit at the confession.

“Godey’s journal also says that it was your grandmother Alicia who opened up Darkrai’s heart. I don’t believe that Darkrai’s evil either,” Tonio admits.

“Then why is Darkrai fighting with everyone?” Dawn points out.

“Someone’s making it so that no one can leave the town!” Ash says, still slightly frustrated.

“I don’t have all the answers yet, but for now we just hang on,” Tonio points out, making Harmony sigh.

“So we need to try and find some clues then? Maybe it will lead us to solving this before everyone can attack Darkrai…” Harmony points out.

_____________

Back at the Pokemon Center Tonio points out something he had found.

“That couldn't be... isn't that Palkia?” Harmony whispers tilting her head in confusion before gasping, “I had a dream about them the day before we got here, it was not just Palkia, but it was Dialga too!”

“That’s what was in my dream!” Ash calls out.

“Yes, it’s said that Palkia lives in between dimensions and rules space, a pokemon that has been called a deity, supposedly formed from the original one,” Tonio explains.

“A diety!” Dawn says with a gasp.

“Cynthia mentioned this on the tablet a few weeks ago, remember Dawn?” Harmony points out.

“When the garden was turned to a waste-land it was a sign of Palkia’s appearance, Darkrai sensed what was about to happen, it was at the moment when the sky lit up that Palika burst into the town, “ Tonio explains.

“But Darkrai was the only one who saw or knew what was happening,” Harmony says with a gasp.

“Right,” Tonio agrees.

“Darkrai was telling us to get Palkia to go away, but he singled me out later in the alleyway,” Harmony whispers, “That is something I don’t understand, I keep hearing him tell me to make them go away, as if I can solely stop them.” she whispers, “I didn’t say anything because I thought you heard it too, but I guess that wasn’t the case,” she says with a frown.

“That’s what Darkrai’s been trying to tell everyone’s pokemon, in the dream, like he did with mine!” Ash concludes.

“But that means Palkia’s here!” Dawn says with a gasp.

“But where’s that?” Brock says as they look at Tonio’s computer trying to find a single point.

“The towers1 It has to be the towers!” Harmony cries out, “That’s where it looks like it’s emitting! Let’s go!”

_____________________

The group rushed from the Pokemon Center to the Space-Time Towers in order to see if Palkia really was there. 

Not only was Palkia there, but Darkrai was there too, once again trying to put a stop to this by going for an attack towards Palkia only to get pushed back by some force-field and slammed into the ground.

“Darkrai!” Harmony and Ash cry out with concern for the Dark-type who had fallen.

They then turn to look up at the tower, “So that’s Palkia?”Ash says with his teeth grinding against each other a glare on his face.

Darkrai continues to try and attack Palkia yelling for it to go away but that seems to only anger Palkia more to the point where the fog around the town disappears only to reveal they were in Palkia’s dimension.

“The town is floating in another dimension,” Tonio points out as he shows everything off on the screen of his computer.

It was then that Buizel and Sudowoodo came racing towards their trainers much to their delight.

“Everyone looks to be awake!” Harmony says with a grin, glad to have the pokemon back.

“Of course, Palkia transported the town to another dimension,” Tonio starts to explain the in and out of why they were all awake due to being in a dimension that couldn’t support both the dream realm and reality.

It was then that Palkia came crashing down onto the ground with a loud thud calling out angrily before his arm sparked which caused Harmony to let out a hiss and clutch her own arm in the process.

“It looks like Palkia’s hurt,” Alice points out.  
Darkrai and Palkia continue to battle, but however, they were suddenly stopped as they were pelted by another move which made Harmony wince a bit, her head starting to pound somehow even more.

“What? Darkrai!” Ash calls out with worry in his voice.

Dialga suddenly appears and attacks the two, but as they battle, the outskirts of the town begin to fade away.

“Dialga” Harmony whispers with wide eyes, “But why is he here?” she asks.

“Palkia and Dialga must have battled between dimensions,” Tonio points out, “And so the wounded Palkia must have fled here sealing the town in yet another dimension attempting to hide itself from Dialga!” he explains.

“Two entities that never should have met, their areas should be too far apart for this to happen,” Harmony breathes out rubbing her head to try and rid herself of the headache that was getting worse. Worst of all she kept hearing two voices, ones she couldn’t recognize. 

“The nightmare I read in Godey’s journal, it’s happening here and now,” Tonio says with a gasp.

“Wait you’re saying Godey was dreaming about future events?” Alice asks, turning to look at Tonio.

Dialga and Palkia seem to start storing energy for big moves making Tonio gasp as his computer catches wind of it, “Tremendous energy!”

The two moves collide causing a massive white light to shine upon everything, the town starting to disappear at a more rapid pace than before.

“Is everyone okay?” Alice asks everyone worriedly.

“Yeah, I think so,” everyone responds.

At this point, the moves were attacking the gardens and everything around them and Alice was through with it, “Stop it!” Alice cries out to the two legendaries, “Stop firing right now!”

They of course didn’t listen, still attacking one another to the point where Dialga got the upper hand and was pushing Palkia directly towards Alice, only for Darkrai to jump over her and aim a move at the two pushings them back.

Darkrai steps in and uses Dark Pulse to send them backwards, saving her. Attempting to stop their fighting, Darkrai gets hit by Dialga and Palkia's attacks, sending it flying through the trees.

“If they keep this up they’re gonna destroy the town…” Harmony murmurs, “I’m going to try and redirect them away from each other, Braviary let’s go!” Harmony says letting her pokemon out.

“Harmony that’s dangerous!” Ash cries out grabbing her arm to try and stop her.

“Not as dangerous as what might happen if they don’t stop Ash.” Harmony tells him, “They were fighting in my dreams, far before Darkrai warned us, there’s something I don’t know and I want to try and solve this.” she tells him softly, her eyes looking into his brown ones, “I’ll be careful okay? Plus you guys need to go help Dakrai!” she tells him.

Ash seems to bite his lip, still hesitant to let one of his friends do something so reckless but he paused and sighed, “Fine...just don’t hesitate to try and come back down, they’re huge and a whole lot more powerful.” he points out, making Harmony smile.

“Just the kind of battle I want to do!” she cries out, “Alright Braviary let’s go!” she says hopping on the bird pokemon’s back flying up.

Once up there she could, much to her surprise, hear the two arguing as they tossed and fought, talking about territory and brother which confused her greatly.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re talking about, we just need to get them to stop.” Harmony murmurs “Get me closer Braviary.”

Once closer she was able to get Braviary to fly between the two enraged beasts. “Stop it! You two are causing so much damage, it’s not helping either of you by fighting!” she cries out to the two, them pausing for a second before who she assumed was Dialga to butt in.

Sister this is not your fight, it is between our brother and me!   
It hisses the word out very upset and made Harmony freeze at being called sister of all things.

It’s not her fault, but you are right, you went into my territory and I am going to win

She heard Palkia state as it shifted in the air, obviously still in pain.

As if, I am just as strong if not as strong as Father! Dialga pointed out with a growl.  
And I will not have you stand in my way!

“That is not fair! You’re putting hundreds of pokemon and humans’ lives because of this argument! It’s terrible!” she tried, but the two were no longer listening to her as they charged up another set of attacks, her Braviary ducking down as quickly as it could to avoid getting hit, landing at the tower top with a huff of annoyance.

“I’m sorry Braviary, I really thought it would work...I hope Ash is okay with Chu. But I still wonder...why did they call me sister? I’m not a pokemon nor could I ever be related to them…” she whispers looking up at the two who were still fighting wincing in a bit of pain if either one got hit. “But could it be why I feel their pain?” she wonders out loud.

Harmony moved to peek out the side gasping once she saw what was going on with the rest of the group, 

They were in Alice's hot air balloon in the air, but the Dialga and Palkia’s attacks had caused another shock wave, making Piplup fall out, only narrowly being saved by Ash’s Sta

“Okay they’re trying to get up here, but why? Braviary go try and help, think you could fly?” she asks turning to her lying type who caws and nods flying down to swoop in and save Dawn and Ash because a gust caused the two of them to fall nearly l onto the tower itself, followed by their Pokémon.

“Oh...hi Braviary, thanks for the save,” Ash says carefully gripping onto the flying type while Dawn shrieked as she grabbed hold of it. Braviary making it up to the towers to let them off on the stairs all the pokemon and the two teens were a bit too heavy to carry up with the wind to fight off.

Ash brings out Aipom and Turtwig and has them climb the tower with him. As the buildings of the town start to disappear, Ash's Pokémon needed to work to deflect Dialga's attacks. Eventually, the stairs of the Tower begin to disappear too, and Dawn brings out Buizel and Buneary to create new steps out of ice. 

As the Tower continues to disappear, Ash falls out, only for Braviary to quickly duck and grab him by his shoulders carrying him up to the top where Harmony was pacing out in nerves, Chu sitting by the controls anxiously awaiting what was going on.

“Harmony?” Ash calls out with a small of as Braviary drops him, Dawn and her pokemon rushing up from the spiral stairs panting.

“I tried! They wouldn’t stop, called me meddling, that I shouldn’t, I figured that the best bet was here, it just felt like the right place.

“Well good thinking, because we need to play the song, Dawn has the disc,” Ash tells her, moving closer to her and going close to Dawn getting the song prepped.

They soon realize that Oración's music disk does not fit in the same spot as the others, “I don’t get it, it should fit!” Ash cries out, “We don’t have time for this!” 

Eventually, Dawn noticed one slot in the middle of the music machine, but the machine does not have enough power.

“Okay if there isn’t enough power we’ll give it a boost!” Harmony says, tossing a Pokeball up, “Alice time to shine, let’s use our stored up power and help charge this thing up!” She says her Ampharos appears in sparkles as it nods, Chu and Pikachu joining her in order to power up the machine.

As the two legendaries fought Harmony’s head was getting more in pain, but she kept pushing it to the side, his was far more important, she’d think on it later for sure.

As the electric types powered up the machine it started to work playing the song, everything started glowing and this made Dialga and Palkia stop their moves and Harmony sighed in relief moving just a bit to lean against Ash, feeling slightly exhausted but calm due to the song playing.

The whole Tower shines, forming huge golden wings, as Palkia's injury is finally fully healed and Dialga returns to its own dimension. Ash, Dawn, and Harmony call out to Palkia to restore everything to the way it was before, and it obliged, returning the town to the real world before disappearing.

With everything finished Harmony lets out a sigh of relief before falling to the ground onto her knees.”It’s over right? No more adventures for a while,” she mutters, moving a bit asAsh swamped to her side in concern.

“You said something happened back there, but you didn’t say what, want to explain?” he asks her gently.

“I don’t know, but I...they mentioned something about me being a sister to them, I don’t know how that would be possible, it’s something to look into more though, and I hope it doesn’t lead to more problems with our journey,” she whispers. “They said something about their father, but isn’t their father the first one? Like Cynthia mentioned, how could that be my father as well, he was human, my mom married him, until he just disappeared,” she says with a whisper. 

“We’ll figure it out, I promise Harmony, maybe it was just a fluke, maybe something else they were talking about,” Ash says trying to get her to stop, making her nod.

“Yeah, something else, must have been something else….”

_________________

With the sun setting, and the disaster averted everyone looks out to the lake with sadness in their eyes thinking about Darkrai who had sacrificed itself to save them all.

“Thank you Darkrai,” Alice says her eyes glittered with tears, “for everything,”

“I’m sorry, Darkrai,“ Ash begins to say, “I should have known, you were just trying to do the right thing,” he says, already breaking into tears.

Harmony moved to his side, her hand resting on his arm, “It’s okay Ash, we couldn’t have known, and I bet it doesn’t hold it against you,” she tells him softly.

However, as Harmony and Ash walk away, Ash notices a mysterious shadow on the cliff face. “Wait is that?” 

“Darkrai!” Harmony calls out with wide excited eyes, he had survived the hit after all or at least was restored by Palkia.

The other race back to the viewpoint with a gasp as they too notice is.

Tere it was, a shadow being cast by Darkrai, fully healed and stood on top of the Tower.

“Darkrai! You’re okay!” Ash calls out happily.

__________________

When everything went back to normal Dawn decided against wanting to do the contest but Harmony was still all for it. “I’m still doing it, no matter what happened, I need to win, and I’m confident Pip, Cursola and I can win, even after all this.” she says with narrowed eyes, “The contest is still on so I want to compete, if you want to leave then I’ll catch up. My mum can send me Hatterne and she’ll teleport me to Hearthome City after okay? Don’t worry too much.” she says moving a bit to wrap her arms around Ash and Dawn’s shoulders. 

“I’ll see you at Hearthome City. How about that? That way we can compete against each other Dawn? That’s where the next gym is and I heard there is another contest there too!” Harmony says, pulling away from her friends who were hugging her back.

“Alright, if you’re sure…” Ash says not really liking the fact that they were splitting up.

“I’m sure, it’ll give me some extra time to train on my own, no offense but I really need to have someone on one with my team and we really miss spicy curry that I can’t make for you all.” Harmony says sheepishly.

“Alright, be safe then!” Brock tells her and she nods.

“Course I will! I’m always safe. I'll stock up on stuff here and head out after, bye guys!” Harmony calls out, patting Cu who was pouting and nuzzling Pikachu before sending sparks at him as a goodbye, see you later type thing. 

__________  
“And the winner of the Almos Town contest is Harmony Sword!” Mariam says after the timer went off making Harmony cheer and rush over to her pokemon. “Cursola you and Pip did it! I’m so proud of you two!” she says happily petting the ghost pokemon as it seemed to actually smile, the usually emotionless ghost type usually had was gone. 

Holding the newly acquired ribbon Harmony grinned, “Alright team let’s get some training in! Hatterene we’ll head to Hearthome City in a few days and catch up with everyone.”


	20. Training in Evolutions!

With the Almos Town ribbon safely stowed away in her ribbon case, Harmony had other plans.

“Since we’ve got a few days, and the Hearthome contest is a double performance I want to start training you and Pip more,” she explains to Lyn, her Shinx, “After all water and electricity though are natural enemies create wonderful combinations.

“After the first round I’m going with Cinders and Bubbles,” she says pointing to her Cinderace and Vaporeon she had switched out.

Her team now consisted of Pip, the shiny Piplup, Cinders the Cinderace, Hatters the Hatterene, Lyn the Shinx, Bubbles the Vaporeon, and Chu her Pikachu of course.

“Alright we’ll start with a new combo, Pip I want to see you with your drill peck, because we want to use that and have Lyn use a charge beam that should be able to wrap around you as you zoom around until you spin and flip back with a bubble beam which should static around each other and explode upon Lyn using swift,” she explains to her pokemon who nod and move to go train together.

“As for you two, you’ve done these before, we’re going to be using combo 2b that we’ve used before, hydro pump and fire spin as a way to guard ourselves in battle. Especially if we go up against an opponent with moves that could hurt either of you. We could also do more combos creating steam as a way for Bubbles to use Acid Armor to blend in and strike when she needs to.” she explains to her team who nod and go off.

“Hatterene, my darling, can you and Chu go around to find berries to pick for a curry tonight?” she asks, “I want to go more hands-on with Lyn and Pip.” she explains, “I don’t want to push them too hard of course, but I want to help them,” she says 

Of course Harmony, we’ll look for ones our pack love!

Harmony heard in her head from Hatterene making her nod at her psychic-fairy partner.

___________________

“Okay, Pip, slow down, don’t overwork yourself,” Harmony says gently to her Piplup who huffed and shoved her hand away with its flippers before rushing off to practice again making her sigh. Lyn however moved to purr against her side while Harmony pets her, “I think your brother is going to evolve soon, he’s getting that way.” she explains to the Shin who nods understanding before shoving Harmony’s hand letting out a cry.

“Oh, you want to evolve too huh? Well then let’s go find Pip, maybe the two of you will evolve together,” she says only to hear Pip cry out as if in pain making her gasp.

“Pip! Hold on! Hey get away from my pokemon!” she cries out noticing a few Ariados. “I’m sorry! My pokemon got in your territory! We’ll leave you alone!” she cries out, Lyn getting in front of her trainer sparking a bit to let them know she meant business for them to get away from her trainer.

It was then Pip let out a huff of annoyance, throwing bubble beam at the Aridos, which only angered them further. But then a bright light appeared from the Piplup as it grew bigger and eventually called out its new name before rushing in with its wings glowing before looking similar to iron tail but with its wing-like flippers and attacking the Ariados. It was then SLyn who moved to help create a combo with a new move as well, secrete power emitting and surrounding the wings as it further attacked the Ariados making it feint.

“Well, that’s one way! You two were amazing I’m so proud! Now let’s go back to camp.” she says moving to corral her pokemon away from the fainted pokemon grinning as her pokemon had evolved, but not just one, both of them and together. Their bond was stronger than she had thought it was.

______________

After a good night's sleep and full bellies of leftover curry she and Hatterene teleported to the outskirts of Hearthome city, where she marched straight to the gym only to find it close with a note making her hiss unhappily. 

“Why I ought to, does the league know about this? How could they allow it without letting the region know that the gym leader is not there, it breaks all kinds of rules for being in the season of gym battles,” she grumbles her eyes narrowing at the note only or Hatterne to whisper in her head about exploring.

“Alright, might as well, I don’t suppose the others are here yet anyway?” she asks, earning a shake of the head from her Hatterene.

____________

It turned out that she was a few days earlier than her friends, so all it meant was more time to train for the contest that was going to happen which made her excited and thrilled at her newly evolved pokemon who were happy to pair with each other without any issues after evolving. 

Especially with a quick check-up from Nurse Joy to say there was nothing wrong with the two, that they’d be perfectly fine to compete without issues. 

_____________

Finally deciding to check on the gym for the second time Harmony had run straight into Nando who had been looking for the same thing. “Oh hello Nando! I see the Gym leader still isn’t here then?” she says with a groan her shoulders sagging a bit. “I wish the league would have mentioned that this Gym leader is AWOL at the moment it’d save us all time from bothering this. Are you going to compete in the contest then?”

Nando lets out a small laugh, “Yes I was looking for the Gym Leader, but as you correctly stated they are not here,” he says before going to say something when another voice called out.

“Hey, Staravia! Pikachu, wait up for me!” 

Harmony’s eyes lit up when she heard Ash’s voice and Chu leaped from her shoulder to race towards the other Pikachu letting out a happy cry and nuzzling it once they were together again.

“Ash! Over here!” Harmony calls out happily waving her arm in the air.


	21. Dawn's Early Night

With Ash right behind Pikachu and Staravia who had settled by Harmony’s side earning happy pets, Dawn and Brock were not far behind.

“It’s great to see you again!” Dawn says, finally taking notice of who was there.

“Nando you too!” Ash cries out happily.

“Yes, though regretfully the gym leader’s not here,” Nando sings.

Ash gets a shocked look on his face before running straight into the door making Harmony wince, “Huh? You’ve got to be kidding…”

“Ash! Watch where you’re going!” Harmony cries out helping him get back up after falling. “I’ve been here for three days, they haven’t shown up once. I’m practically seething. The League should be on top of this,” she tells him with a frown. 

“Say it ain’t so!?” Ash cries out unhappy they had come all this way for nothing.

“You here for a gym battle too?” Brock asks.

Nando nods, “Yes, and I was going to team up with my beautifully wonderful partner Kricketune.

“Hey, nice to meet you Kricketune!” Ash says pulling his Pokedex out and holding it up.

“Kricketune the cricket Pokemon and the evolved form of Kricketot. It conveys its many emotions with the melodies it composes.”

“Wow!” Ash says watching Kricketune make a small melody.

“Yeah, a musical pokemon sounds perfect for you Nando!” Dawn states 

“You’re very kind. Sadly it doesn’t seem we’ll get a chance to battle just yet,”

“What? What’ll we do?” Dawn states.

“There’s a note on the door,” Brock points out.

Harmony scoffs, “Yeah the Gym Leader let to go on their own journey, yet they forgot to find a replacement or temporary placeholder. I’m so upset, this is why most Gyms have apprentices and or gym trainers that can take over for a brief amount of time,” she points out. “I think the League doesn’t know, so I filed a complaint yesterday after asking around with no answers. “ she admits.

“Mainly because this could cause many trainers to miss out on getting a gym badge since it takes a good week or two to get to other gyms what happens if this gym leader is gone longer and doesn’t show up when it’s close to the conference? I’d rather the League know about this and solve it or at least update their sight to mention this gym is closed,” she says frustrated. 

“Right, like how my dad is looking after the gym even though I’m on a journey, that way the gym isn’t empty,” Brock says putting his hand under his chin. “I just wonder why they left it?”

“Man, that’s just great! After all this, I feel like I’m gonna explode!” Ash cries out clearly as frustrated as Harmony was on the matter.

“I feel you so much Ash, I hate this, and I was looking forward to wipe the Ghost Gym Leader’s pokemon down easily. Bubbles has been working on a Dark-type combo move just for this…” she says sadly.

“Perhaps entering the Hearthome Tag-Battle would be some help?” Nando offers.

“What’s the Hearthome Tag-Battle?” Ash and Harmony ask at the same time.

“Only the most famous competition in Hearthome City. It’s where trainers from all over the world compete in a challenging tag battle that decides who reigns supreme.”

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun, I haven't done a tag battle in forever,” Harmony says with Chu cheering her agreement.

“So let’s do it! Hey guys are you with me?” Ash asks Aipom and Staravia who cheer in agreement.

“Brock, are you going to join as well?” Harmony asks.

“I’m in! I could use a good battle!”

“Then you three can register at Hearthome Stadium,” Nando informs them.

“Nando are you going to enter?” Ash asks.

“No Ash, we have decided to focus on the pokemon contest this time,” Nando says looking at his Kricketune.

Dawn gasps, “Oh no! I forgot to register again!” she cries out, making Harmony gasp and grab her by her shoulders.

“Then we best go get you registered! They close soon I think!” Harmony tells her and she nods.

“Nando will you walk with me? Ash, Brock and Harmony have to go register for the tag-battle,” 

“Of course Dawn it would be my honor,” Nando responds.

“We’ll meet you at the contest hall once we’re done Dawn!” Harmony calls out to her.

________________

“So you ready for the double competition Harmony?” Brock asks, making Harmony grin.

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that, I’m very prepared, I love when they do doubles, it’s far more real as that’s how the Grand Festival is set up, plus Pip and Lyn evolved while training!” she admits.

“Woah, so you’ve got a Prinplup and Luxio now?” Ash asks, eyes widening with surprise.

“Yeah they were practicing before we got attacked by some pokemon, then Pip evolved with Lyn straight after to protect me. I’m really proud of them. We’ve got some great combos put together to showcase how Water and Electric can actually work well with each other. And for battles I’m going with Bubbles and Cinders to create a fire-water combo. Assuming we get past the first round of course.” Harmony admits.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine! You always are great at it, we saw a replay of your win at Alamos Town while we were on our way here, it was incredible!” Ash admits his eyes sparkling making Harmony’s cheek flush a bit.

“It was because I used unusual pokemon, that’s why they like to keep tabs on my stuff it seems. I really want to use Alice my Ampharos at some point but she’s not really wanting to battle right now, so we’ll have to wait to see if she will. She’s more into battling for gyms than for contests.” she admits.

“So she might want to help with this tag battle thing?” Brock asks.

“I’m hoping she will, but I’m not sure, she lost pretty badly the last battle I had with a trainer we came across heading here, and she wasn’t thrilled about it. I don’t blame her, it was hard as we went against a ground type so it was my fault for putting her in the situation.” Harmony explains. “I wasn’t prepared and she lost, the others were able to bounce us back to a win, but because she lost she felt really bad.”

_____________

Once the three were registered they headed back to meet up with Dawn, until they headed to the Pokemon Center.

Finishing dinner early Dawn left to go have a pep talk with her pokemon while the other finished up.

“Alright Piplup? Check! Pachirisu? Check! Buneary? Check! Buizel? Check! Course I’m here, that’s it! Alright, you all know we’ve been training just as hard as we possibly can, so no need to worry!” Dawn states happily with her pokemon as the trio come walking up to her.

“That’s the spirit Dawn!” Harmony says with a grin.

“That’s what I like to hear! Confident and Psyched!” Ash points out.

“You’ve really come a long way Down,but I would imagine you’re feeling a little bit nervous? Brock points out.

Dawn lets out a sigh, “I'm feeling a lot bit nervous,” she points out, making Harmony move to her side, giving her a hug.

“And that’s fine, even I’m nervous and always am, but I get out there and show them what I’ve got!” she points out.

“My heart feels like it’s racing a hundred miles a second, after all, it’s my first double performance,” Dawn points out.

“Yeah, I get it, but remember it’s about having fun and showing off the wonders of these guys,” Harmony points out gesturing to her pokemon, “Plus they can sense your nerves, it gets them nervous too, which might cause them to mess up,” she says softly, “So breathe,”

“And it’s all happening tomorrow,” Zoey calls out walking up to them.

“Zoey! It’s nice to see you again! I would assume that means you’re also nervous? But remember this is how the Grand Festival is going to play out, it’s always a double performance for those.” she reminds her. “So think of this as a practice?”

“I heard about the Hearthome Gym thing, I’m really sorry Ash, Harmony,” Zoey says.

Harmony lets out a sigh, “I am still frustrated on that, don’t know how the League is going to deal with it, but I for one hope that no one else gets duped to coming here for a badge,”

“It was a drag, and still is a drag, but we’re all entering the Hearthome tag battle!” Ash points out, “that’ll be a blast!”

“Oh yeah? That should be fun!” Zoey agrees.

“Thanks! I hope you do well tomorrow too!” Ash says his excitement is getting a hold of him.

Zoey lets out a chuckle, “Of course if I win tomorrow that means Dawn or Harmony won’t,” she points out.

Ash gasps realizing his mistake, “let’s say I’m rooting for the three of you okay!?” 

Harmony laughs, “Thanks Ash, it won’t be the last time you’re rooting for everyone though,”

“Oh, I almost forgot! Thanks to all the advice you gave me on double performances, I know I’ll look great!” 

“You’ll look great? Dawn, it’s about the pokemon, not the trainer, they’re the stars of contests,” Harmony says slowly giving Zoey a look of confusion.

“You’ll know you look great?” Zoey replies confused as well, but Dawn took no notice.

“I can’t wait! You’ve taught me so much about contests Zoey!”

“I agree with Harmony Dawn...I think your priorities are all messed up, the pokemon is the star, not the Coordinator,” Zoey points out.

“Make sure you focus on these guys, okay?” Zoey points out to Dawn’s pokemon.

“Okay, thanks I will!” 

____________________

“People and Pokemon, connecting side by side, creating all kinds of emotions. Ladies and Gentlemen! The magic moment you’ve all been waiting for! And that magic moment takes place at the Hearthome City Stadium right here, right now!” Marium calls out to the crowd.

“For our first round, Coordinators will use two pokemon in an exciting double performance, with the second round being a double battle. It’s beauty times two, battling times two, double the fun no matter how you slice it!” 

Harmony rocks back on her feet with a grin, straightening her dress a bit and holding her pokeballs closer to her humming while next to Dawn and Zoey.

“Guess who girls?” Jessalina states from behind them.

Harmony turns to raise her eyebrow up at the dressed up Team Rocket member.

“You’re Jessalina!” Dawn says surprised.

“Hi…” Zoey says clearly uninterested in her.

“So dear are you ready to give it your all?” she asks Dawn.

“Of course! No need to worry,” Dawn states making Harmony sigh.

“That’s when it’s time to worry the most,” she states, shaking her head.

“Worried about other Coordinators? You don’t sound so confident,” Zoey states

“Oh container! I am full of confidence!” Jessalina states fire burning around her.

“Dear me, the sparks are sure flying,” Nando points out from the side.

“Here it is, the Hearthome Ribbon, which one lucky and talented Coordinator will take home, and of course have the chance to move on to the Grand Festival!” Merium announces, “What do you think of that?”

“And now it’s time to hear some words from our panel of judges,” she states as they go through each judge though Harmony had tuned out by then trying to calm her own nerves.

The Performance Stage begins with Nando as the first contestant, using his Sunflora and Kricketune. Sunflora's Grass Whistle and Kricketune's Sing combined with Nando's harp captivates the audience with the melodic music. 

When Harmony takes the stage she lets Lyn the Luxi and Pip the Prinplup come out of their pokeballs with a thunder seal and bubbles surrounding each other. The thunder bits popped the bubbles creating a sparkle around the two. Upon letting them out she calls for Pip to use Drill Peck, then Lyn used Charge Beam which lit up and enhanced Pip’s move earning gasps from the crowd. Following up with a Stream of Bubble Beam and Lyn Using Swift to arrange to make a star in the sky with the swift on the inside before the two pokemon jumped up into it the moves popping and dispersing around them making them shine like little fireworks around them.

Dawn then takes the stage with Pachirisu and Piplup. Pachirisu launches Sweet Kiss while Piplup encases the attack with Bubble Beam. Pachirisu follows up with Discharge as Piplup whips up a Whirlpool, the electricity causing the whirlpool to dissipate in a flash of sparkles.

Jessalina takes her turn, sending out Mime Jr. and Cacnea. Cacnea uses Needle Arm, which Mime Jr. Mimics before using Tickle on Jessalina as both Cacnea and Mime Jr. hug and tickle Jessalina, spinning her around the stage.

Zoey then takes the stage with Glameow and Shellos. Shellos fires Mud Bomb as Glameow's Iron Tail breaks the attack. Glameow taps into Secret Power, which creates a paralyzing light as on the stage. Glameow then prepares Shadow Claw to create a sparkle from the Secret Power. Shellos then launches Water Pulse, surrounding Glameow as it uses its claws to split the Water Pulse, causing the water to then rebound on itself and create a dazzling sparkle. 

___________

While they were waiting for the results Dawn started brushing Buneary while Harmony gave Pip and Lyn her own poffins to snack on.

“You did amazing, you two, I hope you’re proud of what you did?” she tells her pokemon who cheer out happily.

“Dawn! Harmony! You two did so great!” Ash states with a wide grin as the two turns to look at their friends.

“I sure hope we did, Pip and Lyn worked really hard on it, that drill peck and charge beam move was hard, as we didn’t want to shock Pip but surround him in the dazzle of the charge beam,” Harmony admits.

“And it worked really well! Combining something like water and electricity is really amazing!” Ash states.

“Thanks, Ash, it means a lot that you enjoyed it, means we’re doing what we should be doing,” Harmony says with a smile.

“I’m feeling really confident this time, that second ribbon is as good as mine!” Dawn says enthusiastically.

“Slow down Dawn we have to get past the first round,” Zoey points out.

“Yeah!”

“And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Here are the eight Coordinators who made it through!” Marium announces. “These eight lucky contestants have impressed our judges with their double performances that they’re going on to be part of round two! The exciting double battle!”

The first picture was revealed to be Harmony making her sigh in relief and pet her two pokemon, not worried about who else made it until she heard a gasp from Dawn which made her look back up with a frown.

“Oh Dawn, I’m so sorry,” she says softly noticing Dawn hadn’t made it through at all.

Dawn just glances at her lap in disappointment, “I’m sorry I let you down,” she says softly to Pachirisu and Piplup, “You all worked just as hard as you could.

“Dawn, don’t let it get to you, sometimes losing makes you better, and I think this is just the case, you know what you did didn’t work so you’ll try something new and even better next time,” Harmony says softly to her friend.

“Remember you were in perfect sync with Piplup and Pachirisu the whole performance!” Brock points out.

“Okay, then why did we lose?” Dawn says hostility.

“Dawn,” Zoey says softly.

“It’s fine, you don't have to say anything,” Dawn says softly as Piplup tries to comfort his trainer. “I said it’s fine!” she yells at Piplup only to catch herself, “I’m sorry,” she says getting up and running off.

“Dawn!” Ash calls out to her.

“Ash, hold on, she just needs a little time,” Zoey states as Ash sighs.

“Well, may the best of us win right, Zoey?” Harmony says with a grin.

“Yeah,”

___________

Cinders and Bubbles the Cinderace and Vaporeon worked well together, easily knocking others points off and advancing to the finals with ease.

Going up against Nando was really tough on Bubbles as he used Grass-type moves and Cinders did most of the protection of his partner in all this. But thankfully with one final combo of Hydro-pump and fire spin were the two able to defeat Nando and get their ribbon.

“You did it! You two are amazing!” Harmony cries out rushing to her pokemon hugging them in joy while they huddled closer to their trainer.

“And that’s it! Harmony Sword has won the Hearthome City Contest!” Marium announced. 

“More than halfway there aren’t you?” Mr.Contesta states as Harmony takes her ribbon nodding.

“Yeah, I can’t wait, my team is super happy with this win, we’re sure to bring our A-game to the next contest for sure!” she says before spinning and holding her ribbon up, her pokemon cheering happily that they had won, their teamwork was amazing after all.

___________________

Back at the Pokemon Center Harmony sighed as she stood next to Brock and Ash as they talked with Johanna, “Dawn must feel pretty bad?” she asks, and Harmony nods.

“I feel really bad that she lost so soon, but even I’ve lost in the first round before it really hurts,” Harmony states.

“Yeah, Zoey does too, losing to Nando like that,” Ash points out, “but they have each other to talk about stuff with,” 

“Poor Zoey, so close, but not close enough,” Johanna points out, “But congratulations to you Harmony, your performance was really well.”

“Oh thank you so much, it means a lot coming from you, but my pokemon deserve all the praise I wouldn’t be where I am without them. I’ll have to let my Mum know about my win too, she’ll have to watch it in the morning though, time zones are horrible sometimes,” Harmony says softly.

“Do you want us to go get Dawn?” Brock asks.

“I think it’s best if I leave her alone right now, I know she’ll be fine. You see having a friend instead of me to talk to is the best thing for her,” Johanna admits.

“I know, I’d help her, but I feel like she’d push me away because I won, and I don’t want to be shoving it in her face. It'll only make her more upset,” Harmony says softly. 

“Yes, that’s Dawn for you, she’ll come around,” Johanna points out.

“Yeah, thank you again we’ll talk with you soon!” Harmony calls out as the call ends.

“Well hopefully Zoey’ll knock some sense into Dawn, she was getting a bit spiteful at the moment, and she needs to realize you win and lose some, learn from what you did that they didn’t like. I always bugged the judges afterward wanting to get their advice and they told me what they didn’t like so I adapted to what would be better,” Harmony points out. 

“Wow, I never thought of asking what went wrong when I lost a battle before or something like that,” Ash says thinking.

“Don’t look too hard into it, after all, we’re gonna be battling soon at the Tag Battle thing, now how about we go check on the two?” she asks.

“Right,” Ash says with a grin and Harmony felt as though there were Butterfrees in her stomach. 


	22. Tag Battles Are Stressful But Also Fun!

“I got her card!” Harmony calls out rushing back into the pokemon center, a card in her hand with the number ‘28’ written on it in black text. 

“Great, we should go give it to her now,” Ash states, taking it from her.

“I sure hope Zoey’s plan will work, she needs a good bounce back after yesterday,” Harmony says softly.

“I know what you mean, but I’m sure this will help her, now let’s give it to her!” Ash says dragging Harmony off towards where Dawn was sitting, moping about the loss for the contest.

“Here you go Dawn,” Ash says holding the card out to her.

“What’s this for?” Dawn asks.

“It’s an entry card for the tag battle, Harmony went and got it for you this morning,” Ash tells her.

“Why me?” she asks.

“Zoey thought it’d be a good idea,” Harmony tells her.

“She suggested it right before she left, she thought it would lift your battle spirit up a bit.” Brock points out.

“So I quickly went and signed you up!” Harmony says beaming.

“But she didn’t say anything to me about it, you didn’t tell me you were doing this at breakfast Harmony,” Dawn says, taking the card confusion still on her face.

“No matter, it still sounds like a good idea,” Ash points out with Pikachu cheering happily.

Dawn glances at the card in her hand thinking a frown on her face until Piplup sets his flipper on her leg with an asking glance “Alright I’m in!” she says standing up.

“Now that’s what we want to hear!” Harmony cries out with Ash grinning beside her, the trio giving a three-way high five.

_______________

“It’s battle time! Get ready for some action!” The Mayor of Hearthome announces.

“It’s just like the Pokemon League!” Brock points out.

“Thrilling and going to be just as fun!” Harmony beams with Chu nodding in agreement.

“I can’t wait to get this going!” Ash says excitedly Pikachu cheering from his shoulder.

“This is so exciting! Isn’t it?” Dawn says in awe.

“Welcome tag battle trainers to Hearthome City, I know you’re going to have a fine time! And I should know I’m the MC! The names Enta the Hearthome City Mayor! As you may know, our warm and fine Hearthome City is known as the ‘City where Hearts Meet’ And with this tag battle those hearts include Pokemon and people alike. Pokemon to Pokemon and person to person. Yes, bringing them all together is what this tag battle is all about. And so for the next three days, this stadium will burn with that spirit! Simple isn’t it? So now I want you to make sure you have your registration cards,” the Mayor announces.

Harmony glances down at her number, being ‘14’ clearly written, Ash had ‘15’ while Brock had the number ‘16’ as they had registered together. 

“On this screen, you’ll find everyone’s card numbers listed, look for your number and the number right next to yours. This will be your tag team partner throughout the competition. Alright then, time to see who’s who!” The mayor says before pushing a button which seemed to shuffle the numbers.

As the numbers revealed Harmony grinning as she saws she was 

“Wow, I’m in the A block!” Dawn cheers holding her card up.

“Kay, I’m in the H block,” Ash says looking at the screen.

“I’m in the D block!” Harmony says with a grin on her face.

“And I’m in the E block!” Brock points out.

The four of them go to find their partners.

“Huh, okay looking for number 24…” Harmony says glancing around while Chu holds up the number on her head.

“Oh, there we are,” A voice calls out to her followed by a happy chirp from a Politoad.

“Woah! A Politoed, you don’t see those quite often, you must be my partner, I’m Harmony!” 

“Kyle and this is my partner, you using your Pikachu?”

“Actually no, I planned on using my Ampharos, she needed a bit of a lift of spirit so we’re doing this,” Harmony admits.

“Huh, water and electric that’ll be something,” he mutters.

“Water pairs with Electric actually really well, I actually specialize in the two types, they’re my go-to,” Harmony admits.

“So you like double battles then?” Kyle asks Harmony who grins and nods.

“For sure, back home in Galar my one mate always challenges me to a double, he uses weather moves so it’s a bit more tricky,” she admits

“Mate?” he asks, confused making Harmony groan.

“A friend, colleague, that kind of thing? We call them mates, like best mates, oh forget it... “ she says before hearing Ash trying to find his partner.

“Of course you had to be number fifteen,” Paul growls out.

“And I’m ready to win!” Ash says enthusiastically before turning around gasping at seeing Paul.

“Oh no, that will not end well…” Harmony says with a sigh.

“Rivals?” Kyle asks.

“You haven’t the foggiest on the level of rivals those two are, they butt heads more than they would be getting along,” she says with a sigh. “I can’t image how the League is gonna look if they end up battling each other. I just hope I won’t be battling him because I won’t go easy when League happens.”

“You’re computing for the league too?” Kyle asks, surprised.

“What, a girl can’t compete? Of course, I am! This isn't the first league I’ve entered, I’ve come runner up twice in Johto and Hoenn the past two years. I’m second in my region as Leon is second best, I won’t let amateurs like Paul beat me.” Harmony says with a huff. “Now I have to hear him complain…” 

“How about we just avoid them and work a strategy out?” Kyle suggests making Harmony beam at him.

“I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, don’t you think Chu?” she asks her Pikachu sliding onto her shoulder and nodding, though glaring and jumping off when Paul’s Elekid went to attack Pikachu.

“Hey! Knock it off! Save it for the battlefield you two!” Harmony calls out with a glare, “Chu, no. I know you want to protect your mate but now is not the time. Paul, you best keep that pokemon trained better, the League’s don’t like it when other trainers pokemon start attacking with malicious intent,” she states glaring at him.

“Whatever just stay out of my way,” Paul remarks at Ash.

“This is going to be the longest three days ever,” Harmony states unamused.

_______________

“So you’re also a Coordinator? What don’t you do?” Kyle jokes.

“I don’t do well with gardening, though my Mum swears by it,” she jokes. “Okay so if you’re using Politoed for the first battle, and I’ve looked at who we’re facing, they aren’t that much.” 

“Wait looked up?” Kyle asks, confused.

“Get out, seriously do you not know how to study your opponents? The League takes into account who participates, especially those with trainer licenses, it's not hard to search names in their database, right Rotom?” she says her phone bringing it up.

Bzzt easy peasy! Blake Roden has a team of rock types, biker trails is where he’s been battling the most. As for Carrie, she majors with grass types. Bzzt.

“Wow, I never would have thought...that’s a Rotom?” Kyle asks, mesmerized.

“Yeah, they’re not really out in the rest of the world yet, but Galar made them, I’m technically a Beta tester so to speak. But I always look up what I need to know prior to Gym and trainers, it works well to come up with a strategy that way, otherwise you risk losing easily,” she points out.

“Huh, interesting, I’ll keep that in mind….now what shall we do with this information?” he asks.

“Well starting with the rock types we need to plan a way to deal with their abilities….”

The planning with the two did not go unnoticed by Ash who was feeling a bit off with how close Kyle was getting to Harmony. Of course it was Dawn who took notice of it, a smirk forming on her lips at the sight of Ash’s jealousy looking face.

_________________

The next day was the first round of battles; it started with Dawn and Conway with their Piplup and Slowking against a Koffing and Scyther. 

Scyther starts things off with a Razor Wind and Koffing attacks with a Sludge Bomb. Piplup blocks the Razor Wind with a Bubble Beam and Slowking blocks the Sludge Bomb with a Safeguard. 

Koffing comes back with a Thunderbolt that Slowking blocks with Protect. Scyther attacks with an X-Scissor but Piplup comes from above with a Peck attack that knocks out Scyther. 

Koffing uses Gyro Ball, but it is stopped by Slowking's Psychic. Slowking then slams Koffing into the ground knocking it out. The two-win with a combination of Conway's defense and Dawn's attack and Dawn seemed enamored by him, her eyes sparkling in interest. 

When it came to Harmony and Kyle’s battle the two were in perfect sync, sending out commands that paired well with one another. 

The crowd was in awe by seeing the shiny Ampharos who was not easily defeated and took every move it got hit within stride, especially the rock and ground type moves that it was hit with the Graveler. 

But Politoed and Ampharos were in sync and able to team up with moves that actually paired well with each other, like Chargebeam and Scald, or even as far as dragon pulse with a blizzard trailing behind it.

Needless to say, the two wiped the floor within a few minutes of the battle starts.

Brock and Holly were next. It's Sudowoodo and Wingull against a Yanma and Bagon. 

Wingull uses a Blizzard attack but is hit by a Steel Wing from Yanma first. While Wingull is falling, Bagon comes in with a Zen Headbutt, which is stopped by a Double-Edge from Sudowoodo.

The other side is arguing about getting in each other's way. Wingull uses an icy Blizzard. Bagon tries to counter with Dragon Breath but is hit by Sudowoodo's Flail first.

Wingull hits Yanma with an Aerial Ace and both Bagon and Yanma faint. They win and advance to the next round. Brock starts to flirt with Holly, then catches himself and stops only for Holly to start flirting with him. Brock is surprised, while Croagunk is left bemused. 

With Brock actually getting someone to flirt back Harmony beamed at her friend, “Looks like Brock finally hit it off with someone!” she muses pushing Dawn’s side to point it out, “Even Crogunk isn’t attacking him like usual!”

Ash and Paul are the last battle of the first round. Ash sends out Pikachu and Paul sends out Chimchar, and the opposition sends out a Rhydon and Magmar. 

Ash decides to battle his way and starts things off with a Thunderbolt towards Magmar however the attack is redirected to Rhydon thanks to its Lightning Rod Ability. Rhydon, who is naturally unharmed, then smashes Pikachu with a Megahorn attack.

Magmar attacks with a Lava Plume, an extremely powerful Fire-type move that affects everyone on the field. Rhydon is left barely affected thanks to its type-advantage, but the blaze of fire quickly heads toward Pikachu and Chimchar.

Ash tells Pikachu to dodge but Paul sends Chimchar straight into the fire. The flame on Chimchar's tail becomes bigger and Chimchar gives a powerful blast of Flamethrower, which has very little effect on Rhydon. Rhydon counters with a direct hit from a Hammer Arm. 

Pikachu comes down from its dodge with an Iron Tail. Now the two opponents are aware that even without electric attacks, Pikachu shouldn't be taken lightly and have Rhydon strike back with a surprise Surf attack while Magmar uses Protect. 

Paul decides to take it head-on with a Flame Wheel. Ash tries to convince him that Chimchar could really get hurt but he does not care. As Pikachu panics, but Ash tells Pikachu to break through the Surf with Iron Tail, which slams into Rhydon.

Pikachu then scores a direct-hit with Iron Tail knocking Rhydon out and leaving Magmar alone. Now free to use electric attacks, Pikachu goes straight for Magmar with a Volt Tackle but Magmar deflects it with a Fire Punch. 

While Pikachu and Magmar are fighting, Chimchar comes from beneath with a Dig that knocks out Magmar. 

“It’s nice that they won...but without teamwork they aren’t going to make it, that’s the whole point of this. But if Ash and Paul keep clashing with one another…” Harmony says softly looking at the two.

“It might have worked today, but it might not work from now on,” Brock points out.

“That’s what I’m worried about…” Harmony says softly.

________________

Harmony and Kyle were outside practicing with their partners the night before the second day. However, they were interrupted when they spotted a large blast of the flamethrower in the distance. 

“Woah! That was some power…” Harmony says in amazement only to spot Ash who was of training nearby tilt his head confusion before he glanced at Harmony with a bit of confusion written on his face.

“Uh Kyle, I’m gonna go with Ash to check that out...you can come with if you want to?” she offers and Kyle seems to think for a second while glancing at Ash and shakes his head.

“Nah, I’ll keep training here, don’t worry,” Kyle says waving her off.

“Alright! We’ll meet back up in the morning to prepare to go against Dawn and her partner!” she says grinning before taking off grabbing Ash’s arm. “C’mon Ash, let’s check it out!”

When the two teens finally moved through the forest they finally took notice that the flamethrower was Paul's Chimchar taking several attacks from Paul's Pokémon. Elekid uses Thunder, Murkrow uses Shadow Ball, Torterra uses Hyper Beam and Ursaring uses Focus Blast. The tidal wave of attacks converges as Chimchar uses Flame Wheel to defend. 

“Hey Paul! What’s going on here?” Ash calls out as Harmony and he watches Chimchar deflect the moves. 

Paul ignores Ash and calls out to Chimchar, “Use Flamethrower let’s go!” but it hits Ash and knocks him backward.

“Ash!” Harmony cries out rushing to his side in worry falling to her knees to check on him, “Are you okay?” she asks. Chimchar seemed to have a similar reaction gasping in worry for hitting Ash.

“Ugh, my head,” Ash mumbles as Harmony sits him back up, “Hey Chimchar, man you just keep getting stronger and stronger you know?” Ash compliments the pokemon.

“We’re not through yet Chimchar,” Paul calls out from behind them, his arms still crossed over his chest.

“What are you doing Paul?” Ash says clear frustration forming on his face causing Harmony to wince.

“Ash, that’s rude, they’re training, we should go…” she says softly trying to get Ash to back off, no matter how much she disliked the way Paul trained, sometimes tough love worked better. 

“Whys Chichar the one who you put through such intensive training anyway?” Ash questions.

“It’s none of your business,” Paul states and Ash pushes himself up getting angrier.

“Yes, it is! We’re a tag team!” Ash points out.

“You’re point?” Paul remarks.

“I still don’t understand why you entered this thing,” Ash states.

“You wouldn’t,” Paul says with a scoff.

“Huh?”

“It’s a good chance for my Pokemon to go against some real combat,” 

“What do you mean!?” Dawn’s angry voice calls over Ash who was about to speak.

“Oh no...now this could get ugly,” Harmony says with a sigh, Chu’s ears flattening as she agrees with her trainer.

“Dawn!?” Ash calls out confused by her sudden appearance.

“Don't you think you’re being a bit rude to the other trainers and Pokemon in the tag battle?” Dawn asks, pointing at Paul with Piplup mimicking her.

Paul huffs, “I needed Chimchar to be struck by that surf in our match today, get it?” 

“Huh?” the three teens say in confusion.

“But what if Chimchar would have lost?” Ash asks thinking the worst.

“Then Chimchar would be useless,” Paul says and Chimchar looks down in sorrow.

“Paul, if you want to make Chimchar stronger you have to work on its strong points!” Ash states.

“Ash that’s not completely true, it’s not completely uncommon to train with pokemon that have super effective moves against you. Gym Leader Kabu does it quite often, though I wouldn’t say doing so extreme as a Surf head-on…” Harmony says softly. “It's so the pokemon can build up endurance against super effective moves like that…”

“Who’s side are you on Harmony!?” Ash cries out.

“No one's side! It’s training Ash, and sometimes you have to figure out a way to work on weaknesses! I’m not saying it’s the right way!” Harmony cries out.

“It leads to them being spoiled brats and a complete waste of my time,” Paul says harshly.

“I assume you treat all your Pokemon that way?” Dawn says with narrowed eyes, her hands moving to her hips.

“No, this is exactly what Chimchar wants,” Paul states.

“Huh? Chimchar is that true?” Ash asks.

“Well there are different kinds of pokemon that thrive with different training regimes, hell I don’t train all my pokemon the same way, but sometimes you have to realize as a trainer you’re not good at raising some pokemon,” Harmony points out softly as Paul scoffs.

“Chimchar there are other ways to get stronger…you don’t have to do it the hard way you know?” Ash points out.

“Come on Chimchar don’t listen to them,” Paul points out walking on with the rest of his Pokemon following. 

“Chimchar…”Ash says sadly as Chimchar turns around to follow Paul.

“Poor thing, Chimchar looks so sad,” Dawn says softly.

“I wish Paul would listen…” Harmony says softly, “I don’t think he’s the right fit as a trainer, while his other pokemon can thrive Chimchar seems to not, kinda like how Aipom though a good ana amazing battler would be far suited for contests,” she points out, “No offense though, you know?” 

Ash gives her a sour look and she shrugs, “Fine, be that way,” 

_____________

Paul continues training Chimchar as it dodges Ursaring's Hammer Arm. Torterra fires Leaf Storm and Chimchar gets caught in it. Murkrow executes a Sky Attack as Chimchar tries Flamethrower, but it gets hit and collapses. Paul orders Chimchar to stand. It tries but is too weak, collapsing. Paul orders Elekid to use Thunder on it, but Pikachu rushes forward with Volt Tackle to block.

“Knock it off!” Ash calls out Harmony and Dawn trailing behind him.

“You’ve done more than enough!” Dawn states as Ash picks up the close to fainted Chimchar into his arms.

“That’s it I’m taking Chimchar to the Pokemon Center, understand?” Ash says with no room for argument.

Paul huffs turning his head away, “Be my guest,” 

______________

Brock was inside one of the rooms treating Chimchar with a Super Potion as Ash, Harmony, Dawn and Holly.

“I feel really bad for Chimchar, he looks so worn out,” Harmony says softly.

“I am so impressed with Brock!” Holly praises, “At first I thought he was just flirting with Nurse Joy, but boy was I wrong. It’s almost like having another Nurse Joy around!” 

“Brock is really serious when it comes to taking care of pokemon, he goes into like a Doctor Brock mode when someone or one of our pokemon get hurt,” Harmony says as Holly seems to beam brighter.

“With Brock as my tag team partner, we can’t lose I’m sure of it!” Holly states making Harmony grin.

“Oh yeah? You two may be older than us, but we’re just as capable as winning too you know!” Harmony states.

“I’m not so sure about that!” Ash says getting his fists together in excitement.

“We plan on winning too!” Dawn says before turning as the door opens.

“How’s Chimchar Brock?” Ash asks.

“Much better, Chimchar needs rest though,” Brock says.

“Of course!” Dawn says.

“What a relief!” Holly states.

“Wow, you’re going to be just fine!” Ash says a smile forming on his lips.

________________________

Once everything had settled down everyone sat down at the tables in the cafeteria to start chatting.

Brock had sat across from Paul to strike up a conversation, “So Chimchar went through some intense training huh?” 

“I’m sure Ash told you,” Paul remarks sarcastically.

“I treated Chimchar so Ash didn’t have to tell me a thing,” Brock says, his usual friendly face more stern looking at Paul. “At this point, Chimchar will either get a lot stronger or emotionally scarred for life. Why do you need to push so hard anyway?”

Paul refuses to speak which got on Brock's nerves, “I’m not asking because I’m Ash’s friend, I’m asking because I’m Chimchar’s friend,” Brock says his voice sterner.

“Believe it or not we all want the same thing,” Paul states his arms across his chest. “I mean it,”

“I don’t get it?” Ash says in confusion.

“I’ll never forget that first day. It might have been a fight for food, or territory, but the Zangoose wouldn’t stop attacking. Chimchar had taken a lot of damage, but what power, I had never seen a Chimchar who had the strength and stamina like that. After witnessing the mind-boggling display of force and determination. I knew I had to have Chimchar for myself. I knew that if I had that kind of firepower I was going to win the pokemon league for certain, but ever since that day we haven’t been able to duplicate that power” Paul explains causing Harmony to start laughing.

“No wonder, that actually explains quite a lot. Obviously it’s Blaze activating. But not only does Blaze have to be activated, the way you described the pure terror that Chimchar was up against it’s no wonder it could unleash that,” Harmony explains.

“What do you mean Harmony?” Ash asks.

“Think about it, it was pretty much a life or death situation, pokemon competition battles aren’t to the death they neer will be within the league. Therefore even if you were to try and recreate that it wouldn’t usually work. It’d take a lot, and I mean a lot of motivation, fear and maybe agony for Chimchar to recreate that. Or in some case for someone close to it to be in danger, like real danger, not Team Rocket level danger for it to get that click and work it out.” Harmony states.

“And why would that be?” Paul says with narrowed eyes.

Harmony narrows her eyes right back, “Because, you don’t have a strong bond with Chimchar, you’re it’s trainer sure, but bonds between people and pokemon run much deeper and unlocking that makes it so they reach their full potential. My pokemon wouldn’t be where they are without that bond-forming there, and you should look into it, might actually help,” she states snarkily at him.

“I need to push Chimchar way beyond the limit,” Paul states getting up, “If we could just recapture that power, Chimchar would be the strongest of all my fire-type pokemon,” 

“Hold on Paul, you’ve got to let Chimchar rest!” Ash states.

“If I don’t…” Paul trails off.

“You have to! Chimchar’s health depends on it!” Brock states from a medical perspective.

“Brock said Chimchar needs lots of rest!” Dawn states holding Piplup a bit closer to herself.

“You’ve got to listen to them!” Nurse Joy calls out to them.

“Huh?” Everyone turns to her.

“Nurse Joy!” Ash calls out.

“The only reason you’re pushing your Chimchar so hard is because you’re just so impatient, I’m going to have to insist that you allow Chimchar to get some rest,” Nurse Joy says quite sternly, Harmony hadn’t ever heard any Nurse Joy use that voice before.

Paul just nods his head and walks off.

___________________

The following day was another start with new battles underway. Dawn and Conway had made it to the semi-semi finals, while Harmony and Kyle had as well, making tomorrow them facing each other. Brock and Holly had also made it and the last battle was Ash and Paul’s with everyone watching, because if Ash and Paul won, then they’d face off against Brock and Holly.

“I’m nervous...I don’t think this is going to end well…” Harmony says softly to Dawn, “I have a bad feeling that Paul didn’t heed Nurse Joy’s warning…” she says.

“What do you mean?” Dawn asks.

“I er...well I kinda got up in the middle of the night to talk with my mates, cause time difference sucks, and noticed Chimchar wasn’t in the resting room, in fact it looked like Chimchar had been moved far earlier than that, and that was around three I think?” 

“No!” Dawn cries out once Paul releases Chimchar who was still wounded making Harmony wince as she leaned on the banister.

“I told you, Paul wouldn’t heed the warning, gosh if Nurse Joy hears about this he can forget his Pokemon Trainer license…” she says.

“What do you mean?” Dawn asks, confused.

“League standards, what he’s doing now with enough evidence could render him as being an abuser towards Pokemon, every League has those standards, he better hope that he doesn’t otherwise everything goes away, I’ve seen it happen before. Someone was upset at their Sylveon for evolving into a ‘prissy princess’ and kicked it. That was back home, in Galar. ‘Course we have league staffed all around the place so because he attacked his pokemon he got kicked out, don’t remember what the trial was but it’s serious. Anything like this is considered either neglect to treat your pokemon or even abuse.” She admits.

Everyone looks at the battlefield with more worry than before.

Ash informs Turtwig to cover Chimchar as their opponents send out Metagross and Zangoose. The sight of a Zangoose scares Chimchar while Paul grins at the situation.

The battle starts as Metagross charges with Bullet Punch. Chimchar fires Flamethrower but Zangoose jumps forward with X-Scissor. Turtwig uses Razor Leaf, but Zangoose swats them away. 

Metagross lands a hit on Chimchar as Zangoose hits Turtwig. Chimchar uses Dig as Metagross uses Magnet Rise to dodge. Zangoose jumps in with Crush Claw and sends Chimchar back. 

Turtwig attempts to tackle Zangoose, but it dodges and Metagross uses Psychic to send Turtwig back, crashing into Chimchar. 

Zangoose jumps forward with Crush Claw as Chimchar is paralyzed by fear. Turtwig uses Bite on Zangoose's arm to stop the attack. 

Metagross charges with Bullet Punch as Paul orders Chimchar to use Flame Wheel on Turtwig. 

Chimchar refuses to attack its teammate at first, but is forced to comply. Chimchar speeds forwards and hits Turtwig and Zangoose, separating them.

Chimchar is able to keep the momentum going and hits Metagross. Turtwig suffers major damage as a result, and Ash is furious with Paul for intentionally harming his Pokémon. 

Zangoose attempts another Crush Claw and Chimchar attempt another Flame Wheel, but Zangoose pins it and stops the attack. Paul orders Chimchar to use Flamethrower, but looking Zangoose in the eye paralyzes it in fear, this was the last straw for Paul as far as Chimchar is concerned.

Turtwig uses Razor Leaf to get Zangoose off Chimchar as Turtwig steps forward but collapses from damage. 

Zangoose unleashes Fire Blast as Chimchar intercepts, taking the attack and powering up. 

Ash and Chimchar wait for Paul's command, but Paul does nothing and turns away, having completely given up on Chimchar. 

Metagross heads with Bullet Punch and Ash, realizing Paul isn't going to be giving any more commands to Chimchar and is willing to let them get knocked out of the tournament, orders Chimchar to use Flamethrower, stunning everyone. 

Chimchar does so and hits Metagross, knocking it out. Turtwig charges forward as Zangoose uses Crush Claw. Turtwig spin dodges and uses Razor Leaf and Tackle to knock out Zangoose. Ash and Paul win the duel, advancing to the semifinals.

As Ash praises the two Pokémon, Paul still has his back turned and Chimchar is upset, knowing what is in store for it.

_____________

Later that evening the group of teens were walking and talking together just outside the Pokemon Center.

“I don’t think that was a good sign, Paul completely gave up with Chimchar, that’s not what a trainer does…” Harmony says to Ash later that night, “I just hope he realizes what he’s done… Ash, are you even paying attention?”

“Huh? Sorry Harmony,” Ash says sheepishly, “I was just thinking…”

“I know it hurts, but really Ash there’s nothing we can do...not really we’d have to get a lot more involved in this and it’d get really messy really quickly…” 

Ash sighs, as Harmony moves to slip her arms around him in a hug, trying to comfort him. 

“You’re out of here,” Ash and Harmony heard Paul state to Chimchar who looked to be in pure shock and upset.

“Paul? So that’s the end of all that ‘special training’” Ash states getting visibly upset.

“Yeah, that’s right what’s the point? Obviously I need to get a new fire type,” 

“Huh? You’re giving up Chimchar?” Ash asks as Paul walks away.

“What happened to the two of you getting stronger together?” Dawn questions.

“All of that progress and you’re throwing it away,” Brock points out.

Chimchar gets a sad look on its face as it moves to walk away, “Hey Chimchar! Come with us!” Ash calls out making Chimchar turn around in confusion.

“Are you sure?” Dawn asks.

Ash rushes up to Chimchar kneeling down beside it and holding his hand out, “Of course we’ll have a blast and work hard!” he says as Chimchar looks at Ash’s hand before looking up at him, “Chimchar come on! You see, the way you give it all you got is awesome! I’d love to work with such a tough pokemon like you!” 

“You deserve each other!” Paul states rudely, “you’re both pathetic,”

“Why that’s an awful thing to say, Paul!” Dawn sates glaring at Paul.

“It’s not really surprising though, that he gave up, it got too hard and he wasn’t willing to put the effort into it obviously. Ash will be a much better trainer to Chimchar,” she says softly kneeling down in front of the pokemon as it stared at her before glancing at Ash again.

“Just ignore him,” Ash tells Chimchar, “Chimchar and I are going to show just how wrong he can be! Chimchar! It’ll be me and you!” Ash says as Chimchar’s eyes start to water.

Before Chimchar could accept, the group of teens were attacked by Bullet Seed and Pin Missile. 

Chimchar got stolen by Team Rocket, who were the ones that attacked them. 

After finishing their motto, James tells Carnivine and Cacnea to use attack again as they attempt to escape.

However, Ash is intent on rescuing Chimchar, and Chimchar takes action, using Flamethrower to destroy Team Rocket's balloon, but plummets to the ground.

Ash manages to catch Chimchar just in time, and with the day saved, asks again if Chimchar would like to be on his team.

“Alright then, I got Chimchar!” Ash says happily holding the Pokeball in his hand as Harmony moved closer to him resting her hand on his arm.

“And Chimchar is in such good hands now, I meant what I said that you’ll be a far better trainer to him than Paul, some pokemon do well with other trainers, I’ve learned that plenty of times and this is one of those cases,” Harmony tells him.

“That’s one way to catch a Pokemon,” Dawn says with a wide grin on her face.

“Yeah,” Brock agrees.

_____________

“Hullo Professor Oak!” Harmony says with a grin as the call finished connecting. 

Chimchar and Pikachu happily sat on Ash’s shoulders, while Chu was in Harmony’s arms, though she kept glancing up at Pikachu as if debating about jumping up to be closer to him.

“Ah, so you’ve got yourself a Chimchar now ey?” Processor Oak states.

“Yeah! And man, what a hard worker!” Ash says beaming at the Professor.

“He really is, and with a bit more practice he’s sure to be a really strong and helpful teammate,” Harmony says with a grin.

“I see. Well remember just as pokemon and trainer work with each other to get stronger the same thing holds true for trainers,” the Professor explains.

“Hold on, what do you mean?” Ash asks.

“I mean speaking of you and your tag battle partner, Ash,” the Professor explains.

“Oh you mean Paul…” Ash says.

“With only two battles left to go, I’m sure you’d like to win,” the Professor points out.

“Well we all do, but only one of us will, we’re all against each other with our partners after all,” Harmony says softly.

“You do your best and you’ll sure to beat the rest,” Professor Oak rhymes.

“Ahhh!” Dawn says with a squeal making Harmony and Ash turn around in confusion,“He just recited a poem,”

“Huh?” Harmony, Ash and Brock question.

“You do your best and you’ll sure to beat the rest, see?” Harmony repeated what Professor Oak had said. 

______________

Harmony and Kyle were up against Harmony and Conway which they actually ended up winning against, but it was very close in the end. 

The next match-up was Ash and Paul versus Brock and Holly. 

They each send out their Pokemon, Staravia, Torterra, Croagunk, and Farfetch'd. 

Ash commands Staravia to use Aerial Ace, Brock tells Croagunk to use Poison Jab, Holly's Farfetch'd uses Air Slash and Paul's Torterra uses Hyper Beam.

All of the attacks are launched, but only Hyper Beam makes its way through, hitting Farfetch'd, as well as Staravia. However, Farfetch'd is knocked out in an instant. Holly apologizes for letting Brock down, but he tells her not to worry and tells Croagunk to use Brick Break. 

Ash tells Staravia once more to use Aerial Ace, trying to catch Croagunk off-guard. However, Croagunk slides under the immobilized Torterra, causing Staravia to miss and have to stop its attack. Croagunk jumps out from behind Torterra, landing a hit with Brick Break on Torterra's head. 

However, before Croagunk can use Poison Jab, Torterra is able to move again. Croagunk jumps backwards onto the tree on its back, and Torterra uses Leaf Storm, knocking Croagunk out, and giving victory to Ash and Paul. 

“Well that could have gone better...not really any teamwork between the two,” Harmony says once the battle was over watching Ash sadly as Paul seems to brush him off once more about their win. “I feel really bad for Brock...Holly looks really upset…” 

______________

Everyone returned to the Pokemon Center to go heal their pokemon. However, when Brock went to ask about Holly, Nurse Joy gave him the bad news.

“WHAT!? What do you mean she just left?” Brock says with a gasp his heart shattering more than likely.

“Oh no, poor Brock, he finds a girl who likes him and she leaves,” Harmony says with a sigh tuning out mostly to what Nurse Joy was saying about Holly training to be a better tag team partner to Brock.

“But that sounds cool to me!” Ash points out making Harmony shake her head.

“Yeah, but she could have told Brock, how’d you feel if one of us left without telling you?” she points out.

“Uh..well...wait you’re not leaving are you!?” Ash says getting a panicked look upon his face confusing Harmony slightly about that outburst.

“If I did it wouldn’t be permanent, you’re not getting rid of me that easily Ash Ketchum!” Harmony says with a wide grin on her face, not noticing the look Harmony had on her face which was a smirk at noticing how Ash and Harmony were reacting towards one another.

“Anyway, I’m super psyched up! I can’t wait to win!”Ash says with a grin.

“Oh yeah? Don’t count your eggs before they hatch Ash, I don’t plan on losing either!” Harmony states with a wide grin on her face.

_____________________

Finally, the final battle of Harmony and Kyle versus Ash and Paul begins. 

Ash sends out Chimchar, Paul uses Elekid, and Harmony and Kevin call out Heracross and Alice the Ampharos. 

Ash's first attack is Flamethrower, followed by Elekid using Thunder. 

However, Alice is able to counterattack Flamethrower with a Fire Punch, creating a combination with the flamethrower surrounding the punch making it more powerful.

Kyle backs Alice up by telling Heracross to use Revenge. Heracross gets in to take the Thunder attack and uses the power of Revenge to attack Elekid. 

Next, Chimchar uses Dig as Harmony calls for Alice to use Dragon Pulse. Elekid uses Protect, but at the last minute, Alice jumps up and Kyle tells Heracross to use Feint to break the Protect, taking Paul off-guard. Alice then uses Dragon Pulse again, hitting Elekid, but Chimchar finally hits Alice with Dig, which was rather affected.

Alice counters with Dragon Pulse, again hitting Chimchar. Chimchar quickly recovers and uses Flamethrower on Heracross, but Alice jumps in front of Heracross and uses Fire Punch.

The attacks collide, causing an explosion. 

Elekid jumps through the smoke and uses Thunder Punch, while Heracross counters with Megahorn. Another explosion is created, sending Elekid flying backwards. 

Suddenly, Elekid begins to evolve into Electabuzz, shocking everyone. 

The newly evolved Electabuzz then begins to charge up its Thunder. In response, Conway tells Heracross to use Megahorn and Alice uses Dragon Pulse. Ash tells Chimchar to dodge Dragon Pulse and to use Flamethrower on Heracross, while Electabuzz uses Thunder on Alice. All the attacks collide, causing an explosion. 

Just when it seems like the battle is over, Alice and Heracross are seen still standing once the smoke clears a smirk forming on Alice as her fist sparks, having absorbed the Thunder into her Fire Punch. With that, she quickly swept herself away landing the hit directly on Paul’s Eletabuzz which knocked it out. 

Chimchar however was still panting before collapsing which made the judge declare Kyle and Harmony as the winners.

“Alice you did it! I’m so proud!” Harmony cries out rushing towards her partner hugging the sheep pokemon as she cooed at her trainer nuzzling into her stomach, which caused her hair to frizz, not that she cared.

At the awards ceremony, the Mayor gets on stage to give Harmony and Kyle their Soothe Bells. Everyone applauds

____________ 

That evening, at the Pokémon Center, the group of friends discusses the battles that happened. Although both Ash and Dawn were discouraged about losing, Dawn promises to win her next Contest and Ash his next Gym battle.

Conway then suggests to Ash and Harmony that he could next head for Veilstone City as it has a Gym, seeing as the Hearthome Gym is currently closed. 

At that mention, Harmony let out a hiss of unhappiness her arms crossing over her chest and a huff and glare forming on her face.

“For Harmony’s sake, I think that’s a much better idea…” Ash says wincing at how Harmony was acting, “I don’t think we can handle her being upset about this gym...she’s quite put off about a gym leader being absent during the time when the league wants them open... “

“Damn right Ash Ketchum, I am seething, I am going to show this gym leader a piece of my mind if I get to even meet them for how disrespectful they are because it's during the season,” Harmony says with a huff before leaning against Ash’s shoulder, surprising her friend as he shifted to get her more comfortable, knowing comfort was what she was seeking even without her saying anything about it.


	23. Contest First, Gym later!

While traveling with the new teammate for Ash’s team, Chimchar struggles to adapt to its new surroundings. 

Everything is the complete opposite of its life with Paul. That being said, mealtimes are fun and everyone treats each other with friendship and kindness compared to how Paul ran things.

Unfortunately this meant that Chimchar still has vivid memories of the lonely and harsh treatment it received from Paul, so this sudden reversal of fortune is nearly too much to take. 

Especially when Ash even praises Chimchar after it loses a practice battle with Pip, Harmony's Prinplup, Chimchar breaks down in emotion.

Harmony looked on with sad eyes hating that Chimchar had went through so much, especially given how much stress it had been under with Paul as its trainer.  
The next morning Jessie and James catch Dawn, Harmony, and Brock by surprise, then try to steal all of their Pokémon by trapping them in giant canisters!  
But when the Zangoose show up, Team Rocket has to hide in the canisters for their own protection. Ash and Chimchar reach the scene and realize the Zangoose are about to knock the canisters off a cliff.   
Chimchar has encountered Zangoose before and it's still afraid of them. Ash knows this, so he encourages Chimchar and gives it the confidence it needs to take on and defeat the Zangoose. With everyone safe and sound, it's three cheers for Chimchar, who finally feels like a part of its new family.  
________________

“Gosh when are we gonna get there,” Harmony complains, “It feels like we’ve been walking for days on end!” She complains, not used to walking this much, Galar was such a smaller region compared to this and she was half ready to want to just take Braviary to fly to the next city without a fuss.

“We’ll get there when we get there, don’t worry too much,” Brock explains glancing at the map making Harmony sigh once more.

The group of friends run into Gardenia, in the middle of her travels through Sinnoh. Gardenia is about to show off Pokémon battling with a friendly match, but Team Rocket interrupts to try and steal Pikachu and Chu.  
Of course, the minute Gardenia sees James' Cacnea, her love for Grass-type Pokémon blinds her to everything else, and suddenly James finds himself joining Gardenia in a tag battle against Ash and Harmony. 

Acting on Gardenia's advice, James has Cacnea try a new move, Drain Punch, but it only works once before Pachirisu and Aipom win the battle.

James turns down Gardenia's offer to train Cacnea, but it's still on his mind as he and Cacnea train hard to perfect this new move. Jessie and Meowth convince Ash and his friends to help Cacnea train, too.

Both Dawn and Harmony are understandably skeptical about helping Team Rocket power up, although Drain Punch still doesn't work even after Ash and his Pokémon help Cacnea train.

Gardenia returns in the middle of Cacnea's training battle against Ash's Aipom. Even though Cacnea battles with every last bit of its strength and beyond, it still can't pull off Drain Punch. 

Remorsefully realizing that he's just not skilled enough to bring out Cacnea's full potential, James stops the battle and tells Cacnea to go with Gardenia. 

He bids a tearful farewell to his Pokémon before running off, followed by Jessie and Meowth. But wherever he goes, James won't forget Cacnea and all their times together.  
_________________  
“I kinda feel bad for James, but at the same time I give him props,” Harmony says softly as the group of four set up camp for the night.

“How so?” Ash asks furrowing his brows in confusion.

“Well he loves and cares for Cacnea so much, and even though they are the bad guys to us they are kinda harmless mostly. But, I give him props because he recognized that Cacnea can’t thrive and learn or grow with him and Gardenia can do that. Makes me wonder how he’s even part of Team Rocket because an act like that isn’t common for a team like that who wants to steal pokemon, they tend to only see pokemon as power houses, not as friends and partners,”

“Huh, I never thought of it like that…” Ash says nodding his head in agreement.

____________

On their way to Solaceon Town, where Dawn and Harmony had heard there was going to be another contest, they ran into Zoey. And whenever they had the chance they couldn’t resist wanting to have a practice battle, especially Dawn with her being in a slump.

At the same time on the other side of the field, Ash was having Chimchar and Aipom battle each other to train for the upcoming Gym battle. 

As the two were training Harmony couldn’t help but notice that Buizel is distracted by the battle between Chimchar and Aipom, and at the same time Aipom keeps trying to watch the Contest battle between Buizel and Zoey's Glameow.   
Harmony finally had enough and quickly pointed out that it seemed as though Buizel would rather be battling while Aipom would rather be in a Contest.   
Agreeing with her Zoey makes a bold suggestion two the two trainers: Dawn trade Buizel for Ash's Aipom.  
Dawn and Ash aren't sure if that's a good idea. To test the waters, Ash suggests that he use Buizel to battle Harmony, and Dawn can use Aipom to battle Zoey.   
But before the battle can get very far, Jessie and Meowth show up in disguise, and that made Harmony put her guard up, her eyes narrowing at the scheming Team Rocket members. 

Of course it seemed that Jameso was unaware of the plan, and accidentally blew Team Rocket's cover.   
Seviper uses Haze and Team Rocket makes a grab for Aipom and Buizel anyway, but they end up snagging Glameow and Sylveon instead the two had been close enough to Aipom and Buizel as they were training with each other.

Of course this greatly upset Harmony, her fist shaking as she got ready to let out another one of her pokemon only for Ash and Dawn to tell her they’ll handle it.  
The two trainers use Aipom and Buizel to defeat Team Rocket.

Ash's attacking style is a good match for Buizel while Aipom's flair is a good match for Dawn.   
They complete the Pokémon trade, the two pokemon now happy with the decision.

________________

Aipom and Buizel are battling in a field when Aipom deflects Buizel's Sonic Boom into an old stone tower, knocking it down. Then the skies darken and a Pokémon emerges from the ruined tower: Spiritomb.

“Ash Ketchum what the bloody hell was that! That looks bad!” Harmony says freaking out over the destroyed tower thing that looked rather old and important. 

“Er...whatever it was it can’t be that bad!” Ash says trying to brush it off.  
However, one of the villagers is an old lady who knows this damage is the work of Spiritomb. 

Long, long ago, Spiritomb caused trouble for the villagers until an Aura Guardian and his Pikachu sealed Spiritomb inside a Hallowed Tower made of stone.

“That sounds an awful lot like the tower Ash accidentally knocked down....” Harmony says narrowing her eyes at her friend who winces and rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah...it kinda does…”Ash states and the four of them quickly promise to make things right, they're approached by some suspicious psychics that offer to help.

No matter how much Harmony states she doesn’t fully trust them the rest of the group vote her and they clearly ‘pretend’ to help calm Spiritomb down, but then spring a net over Pikachu, Chu and Spiritomb.  
However Team Rocket obviously didn't suspect the Spirtomb’s strength as Spiritomb blasts the net apart and chases down Team Rocket. 

Thankfully since Meowth can translate it actually discovers that Spiritomb is really looking for revenge on the Aura Guardian who sealed it in the Tower. 

“We really need to stop Spiritomb, so we should lure Team Rocket into a trap and hope that Spiritomb is close behind” Harmony suggests after they sat for a few minutes thinking.

They agree but, when Team Rocket tells Spiritomb that Ash is a descendant of the Aura Guardian, and that Harmony is his maiden, therefore it turns its wrath on the two teens.  
“What the hell! That’s not true!” Harmony cried out but the Spiritomb wouldn’t listen as the two teens ran away from it with Spiritomb in hot pursuit.

Ash and Harmony run to the ruins of the Hallowed Tower, yet Spiritomb is too powerful to be sealed away.  
Both Chu and Pikachu are exhausted, but as clouds gather overhead, Ash gets an idea. 

“Harmony do you trust me?” Ash speaks up.

“What kind of question is that!? OF COURSE I DO!” Harmony cries out shoving herself closer to Ash as the Spiritomb looked to be getting ready for another attack.

“Then have Chu aim a Thunderbolt at the sky! Same with Piakchu!” Ash suggests and she bites her lip nodding.

“Okay...Chu you hear that!?” she calls out to her pokemon partner who nods.

The two use Thunderbolt on the skies, attracting a lightning bolt that fills it with energy. 

Then Chu and Pikachu defeat Spiritomb and the wayward spirit is sealed back into the Hallowed Tower, this time for good.

“See that was no big deal,” Ash says as he and Harmony flop down next to the Hallowed Tower with a sigh of relief.

“No big deal, you have your priorities screwed on wrong mate,” Harmony says with a huff, “I thought we were gonners,”   
_______________

The following day on the way to Solaceon Town, where the next contest was the group of teens reach a river with an unfinished bridge.

As usualBrock immediately falls for the woman who runs the area, Isis, the stonecutter who was working on the bridge, and learns that construction has halted because Isis's Bibarel refuses to cut any more stone. 

With only days until the project deadline, Isis's job is in trouble, and Brock gallantly offers to help get Bibarel back to work. But to his surprise, even the lure of delicious Pokémon food can't convince Bibarel to resume cutting.  
Isis doesn't know what's wrong at all, even after Brock’s effort. Mainly that was because Bibarel was trained by a master stonecutter and always used to obey her commands. But once the stonecutter left, for an unknown reason Bibarel stopped working.

The group of teens try to make up for the slack by having their own Pokémon cut stone instead, but without Bibarel, they don't have the know-how to cut stone to the right specifications, no matter how hard they tried. And they tried everything and everything to get it to work but it wouldn’t. 

To make things worse, Team Rocket descends on the scene and steals the construction team's Machamp and Machoke.   
But luck had it as Bibarel actually decided to help and was able to beat Team Rocket and free the kidnapped Pokémon.

However, the bridge's head engineer shows up at the quarry and tries to force Bibarel out of the way so work can resume. With help from the teens, Bibarel defeats the head engineer and his Pokémon.   
Then Bibarel's original trainer and stone cutting master returns, and reveals that the head engineer's blueprints were flawed. Meaning that Bibarel refused to cut any stone because it knew all along, and was only waiting for the master to return with blueprints that would work much better. Using the corrected blueprint, Bibarel gets back to work and the bridge was finished on schedule. 

And with that in mind the group of four teens waved good-bye and headed on their way, after all they needed to get to another contest and even after that they’d need to head on to the next gym.  
____________


	24. Why are Towns and Cities so Far Away?

As the group of teens were on their way they came across a guy named Alan who asked for a battle, at first Ash wanted to battle him with Turtwig in order to take on Alan and his Nosepass, but Harmony stepped up before he could ask. 

Deciding her best bet was to go with a water type while Chu, her Pikachu sat on Ash’s shoulders with his Pikachu while she called out Pip the Prinplup to battle the Nosepass.

Pip dodges a fury of Zap Cannons as it rushes towards its opponent before taking a sharp turn, where a chase ensues. Alan orders Nosepass to keep up the Zap Cannons, and eventually one hits close enough to send Pip flying. However, Pip barely was able to get his footing as he landed on top of a rock. 

As Harmony orders Pip to jump away, Alan orders it to stop as the battle has to take place in their current location. Harmony nods her head in agreement figuring out what he meant while the rest of the teens were confused by the request. Alan explains that he wants to battle near Mt. Coronet so his Nosepass can evolve due to the special magnetic field present in the area. Ash gets rather excited at the thought of being able to see Nosepass evolve and agrees with the idea, obviously very keen to help Alan inch closer to his Sinnoh League dream.

Brock calls for the match to resume. Pip dodges a Rock Slide and strikes back with Drill Peck. Nosepass stands its ground and responds with a Tackle. 

The match gets heated as Alan and Harmony exchange attacks, with each taking significant damage. Nosepass suddenly bursts into light and promptly evolves into Probopass, which Dawn looks it up on her Pokédex: “Probopass, the Compass Pokémon, and the evolved form of Nosepass. Its body acts as a powerful magnet. It controls three smaller units called Mini-Noses”

Harmony and Alan prepare to resume the battle after congratulations are made when an odd helmet falls on Probopass's head.

With the weird helmet on its head, Probopass's mini-noses then attack Alan. A cackle of laughter alerts Alan and the others to Team Rocket, who reveals that they are controlling Probopass. Alan calls for his Pokémon to listen, though it is well and truly under Team Rocket's control. They have Probopass break up the ground before flying off with the Compass Pokémon. Alan is distraught by the loss, but the group of teens reminds him not to give up.

____________

After splitting up with Brock going on his own and the others soon spot Team Rocket, noting all of the other helmets that they were going to use for other Pokemon assumingly. 

Alan prepares to rush in, but both Brock and Harmony stop him and point out that he will just be attacked. 

Instead of rushing in, Ash and Harmony send Pip and Buizel, who swims across the river and gets close enough to attack Meowth and Jessie with water via a softer bubble beam. At the same time as Pip was distracting Buizel goes to get the remote, however, bungles the remote retrieval after he drops it, causing Team Rocket to notice both him and Pip. 

In response, Wobbuffet and Buizel battle for the remote, which is then knocked into the air by Pip’s Steel Wing bashing it. Ash jumps to catch it, but Jessie's Dustox uses Whirlwind, causing Ash to fall into the water while Harmony rushes to go help him, her eyes narrowing at Jessie as she helps Ash get out of the water, but not after making sure he was alright of course.

The remote then hits Probopass's antennae causing it to explode. After it gets destroyed, Probopass continues to act out. It first attacks Team Rocket and sends them blasting off with a Zap Cannon, then turns to Harmony and Ash. 

Thinking Quickly Ash and Harmony have Chu and Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but this fails to destroy the helmet, instead, it makes Probopass flee.

Alan soon catches up and hops on Probopass to get rid of its helmet. Knowing he will also be attacked, Alan asks Chu and Pikachu to use Thunderbolt. This causes Alan and Probopass to be shocked, but the Compass Pokémon remains under the helmet's control. 

Alan suddenly spots a river up ahead and orders Ash and Harmony use a Thunderbolt and Water move combo when he gives a signal.

Soon, Probopass comes to a stop at a steep cliff overlooking the river, so Alan gives the signal. Chu and Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Buizel's Water Gun, and Pip’s added Bubble Beam knocks Probopass and Alan into the river below. Probopass quickly sinks to the bottom, where Alan manages to pull the helmet off. With Alan still not ashore, Ash looks at Harmony who huffs but slips her bag off her shoulders and swiftly dives in, Pip at her side for assistance.

Unfortunately, Team Rocket makes another unwanted appearance. Chu and Pikachu unleash a Thunderbolt, but the entire group, minus Harmony as she was still helping Alan get out of the water, gets caught up in a rocket-fired net. 

Alan finally manages to awaken his Probopass, and they swim back to the surface along with Harmony and Pip’s help. Alan declares that he has his burning spirit back, though Jessie and James call on Seviper and Carnivine to teach him otherwise. Ash and his captive friends have Pip use Steel Wing to free themselves from the net.

Team Rocket orders their Pokémon to attack, but Probopass knocks them down with Magnet Bomb. Pikachu follows up with Volt Tackle to defeat Seviper and Carnivine. Pip and Alan's Probopass then deal the finishing blow, a Hydro Pump, and Zap Cannon combination to send Team Rocket blasting off. With Team Rocket behind them, Harmony calls out to Alan wanting to finish their battle Pip flexing his wing and narrowing his eyes playfully wanting to finish what was started. 

Of course, though, Harmony won the battle, only barely with Pip evading a final Zap Cannon and retaliating with a Hydro Pump to the face knocking Probopass out.

________________

A few nights after the teens' run-in with Alan they walk into the courtyard of a large manor where they were hoping to spend the night, spotlights suddenly blind them. 

Once they could see after squinting a blue-haired girl and her Luxray were the ones standing atop a rooftop, and Luxray jumped down towards the group of teens and attacked Chu and Pikachu, something its Trainer clearly did not want yet. 

Pikachu and Chu swiftly dodge Luxray's strikes. Pikachu ushering Chu to hide in the bushes with him, but Luxray's x-ray vision spots Pikachu before using Iron Tail at the pair. 

Luxray's Trainer tries to stop her Pokémon, but it proceeds to use another Iron Tail, which Pikachu moves to protect Chu with its own Iron Tail. 

Luxray's Trainer then calls for backup, with six bodyguards quickly surrounding the group of teens. They try to seize them, but Pikachu and Chu's Thunderbolt stops them cold. 

Harmony glares at the girl and goes to open her mouth with a sassy remark when Brock stops her and starts to try and convince her that they are not criminals, and the manor's owner, Matthew, steps out and supports them, recognizing them from the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. 

Matthew points out that the increased security is because that crook, named the Bandit Beauties Three, threatened to steal his Old Charm. When he asked Officer Jenny from Mahogany Town for assistance, Luxray's Trainer, named Marble, was sent instead.

The group of teens quickly decide to help Marble, but Luxray is still demonstrating hostility towards Chu and Pikachu, clearly not trusting them one bit. 

____________

Inside the manor, they set up in front of the vault where the Old Charm is kept. Marble informs them that the bandits will try to steal it at eight o'clock. 

While they wait, Marble reveals her concern for her Luxray, because it has been unable to use Electric moves since evolving, causing it to disobey her. THis makes Harmony wonder if it was something else that was making Luxray not be able to use electric type moves, it usually was something that the trainer and pokemon had to figure out together.

When they tried to help Officer Jenny capture a crook, Luxray wasn't able to use Charge Beam, forcing Jenny's Arcanine to stop him, upsetting Luxray. 

Marble was excited to see Chu and Pikachu, hoping to inspire Luxray to regain its ability to use Electric moves. 

Ash and Harmony both offer to help with some special training, but Marble wants to start with calming Luxray's anger. 

_________

The clock read ten minutes to eight, just as a group of poorly dressed guards makes Harmony narrow her eyes in suspicion, steps in, saying that they have ordered from Matthew to move the Old Charm. 

Marble is hesitant at first and Harmony was about to speak up to agree with the girl, but Brock sees it as good since they could fool the thieves. 

They open the vault, but Dawn almost unmasks them as the disguised bandits. They try to ward it off, mentioning that the bandits are professionals and would be on time, but Brock points out that they could have set the clock back five minutes. 

Matthew shows up and reveals that he never gave an order to move the Old Charm, unmasking the bandits. 

Team Rocket activates a bomb and tries to escape in their balloon, reciting their motto much to Harmony’s annoyance as it was overdone. 

Ash and Harmony have Chu and Pikachu use Thunderbolt, but Luxray knocks them aside and tries to land Iron Tail. A mecha arm knocks it back. The balloon proceeds to get away, but when Ash's Staravia uses Quick Attack, Team Rocket fires thrusters to escape. Unfortunately, they puncture the balloon on the castle, sending them crashing down.

_________

Finally being able to find the spot where Team Rocket crashed they moved closer only to find them gone, but Matthew mentions that they must still be in the area since the exterior is still being watched.

Matthew mentions that there are plenty of traps in the area too since they would try to hide treasures. 

Luxray spots the pit trap near Chu and tries to warn it, but Pikachu takes it as hostility towards his mate and accidentally triggers it. 

Luxray tries to save Chu and Pikachu from falling in, but it falls in too.

Harmony soon panics and moves to try and go down but Matthew and Ash stop her by warning and grabbing hold of her arms in Ash’s case, from going down. Matthew offers to lead them to a safer entrance. 

While Chu, Pikachu, and Luxray end up underground, Matthew shows them a staircase behind a fireplace that leads them to the underground complex.

Marble compliments Harmony and Ash on how well they and their respected Pikachu’s work together. Ash mentions that when he first started, Pikachu would not listen to him until he protected Pikachu from Spearow.

Ash suggests that Marble should try to maintain a friendship with Luxray outside of her job. 

________

Ash and Harmony along with their friends suddenly appear from behind a concealed door, meeting up with the Pokémon. 

Harmony cries out happily opening her arms for her partner to race and hug, nuzzling their cheeks together with a sense of relief washing through them. While Ash hugs Pikachu as well as Marble hugs Luxray, with the two becoming friends again. 

Marble accidentally triggers another trap, causing the door to close and two opposite walls to close in. They try to open the passage as Luxray quickly finds the switch to stop the trap, using Iron Tail to hit the switch and save them.

Team Rocket then tunnels into the chamber with the teens. Meowth opens the chest and finds the Charm, and though dismayed at the contents, puts it into a safe. 

Jessie and James send out Seviper and Carnivine to battle, and Seviper uses Poison Tail while Carnivine uses Bite, but Luxray uses Iron Tail to stop both. 

Chu and Pikachu use Thunderbolt to shock them, while Luxray jumps into them and takes the electricity from the attack, charging up its body. 

Marble decides to have Luxray try Charge Beam. Seviper and Carnivine try a double Bite attack, but Charge Beam works, stopping them cold. 

Dawn thankfully catches the box with the Charm as Pikachu, Chu, and Luxray execute a triple attack to send Team Rocket blasting out of the underground.

______

Once outside again, Luxray uses Thunder Fang to electrify the box and cause it to open, getting the Old Charm back. 

Matthew thanks them all as Officer Jenny suddenly shows up and confronts Marble about taking the case without authorization. 

Brock makes his usual moves, but Croagunk shuts him down quickly. Marble apologizes as Jenny compliments her about developing a bond with Luxray. 

Matthew offers the group a meal to end the day, and Ash readily accepts it without hesitation earning a laugh from his friends.

________

Finally moving forward and stopping on a break Dawn and Aipom along with Harmony and Lyn the Luxio are training for the Solaceon Contest.

Dawn was having Aipom use Focus Punch in fast succession to make it look like Aipom has two tails. 

Finally noticing what Dawn was having Aipom do made Harmony grin and point out that move was actually Double Hit and with learning that it might mean that Aipom is more than likely close to evolving.

Kenny arrives and mocks Dawn for not knowing that Aipom evolves into Ambipom. To which Harmony glares at him pointing out that not everyone knows about every single evolution chain. He refers to Dawn as Dee Dee, with the mysterious nickname puzzling Ash yet again, and Harmony telling him to just let it be and pointing out if Dawn wants to tell them she will. Dawn, clearly upset by the nickname, insists on Kenny not to go there. 

Kenny reveals that he is looking forward to the Solaceon Contest, and Dawn replies that she and Aipom will be hard to beat. Harmony piping up that she and Lynn, her Luxio won’t go down as easily either. 

Ash, however, is keen to finish his match against Kenny, but Kenny declines and says he was going to see Dialga and Palkia, which piked Harmony’s interest fully, a dozen unanswered questions popping up from their time in Alamos Town. Harmony was quick to offer to accompany Kenny, correcting herself to point out that the group would accompany him to the ruins, and they soon start heading that way.

_________

When they get there they marvel at the entrance featuring a Dialga and Palkia statue. Harmony tilting her head as she just observes the statues a bit moving to try and brush her hand against it but it was just stone. 

Kenny offers to battle right now, right in front of the Dialga and Palkia statues, and Ash agrees to it. 

Ash and Kenny don't know who should go first, which causes Dawn to bring out her Pokétch App, the Coin Toss. Once the Coin Toss is done, it is decided that Ash goes first. Since Ash thinks Kenny is going to use Prinplup again, he sends out Turtwig, insisting that Pikachu should relax. Kenny, hearing this prediction, instead sends out Breloom, which surprises everyone, especially Ash. 

Ash starts the battle with a Tackle, which Breloom tries to dodge, but isn't fast enough. Kenny is surprised at Turtwig's speed. Ash orders Turtwig use a Razor Leaf attack, though Breloom’s Mach Punch hits first. 

Turtwig rushes forward with Bite, but Breloom counters with an Energy Ball. Ash is impressed by this move and asks Kenny to teach it to Turtwig. 

Kenny thinks about it for a moment and says that knowing the move Bullet Seed makes teaching Energy Ball easier. After Ash admits that Turtwig doesn't know Bullet Seed, Kenny says it will be difficult, but says he'll teach it to Turtwig if they defeat him in a battle.

As Dawn and Harmony watched from the entry stairs of the ruins as Ash and Kenny train, the entry stairs begin to lift up, carrying Harmony, Dawn, Chu, Lynn, Piplup, and Aipom with it. The boys leap inside to rescue the girls just as the Solaceon Ruins shut behind them.

Dawn and Harmony panic a bit when they couldn’t find their Pokemon but eventually the duo manages to find Piplup and Aipom, Chu, and Lynn though they are disorientated by their odd surroundings. 

The Unown appears and fires a combined attack, leaving Dawn and Harmony clueless, however, her Pokémon helps her with Swift, Bubble Beam, Thundershock, and Charge respectively. 

Because their Pokemon attacked the Unown, the Unown suddenly snapped out of their confusion and turned the place back to normal. 

However, even with things seemingly back to normal, Harmony and Dawn still didn't know how to get out, and it still looked really weird up ahead. 

______

Dawn and Harmony continue running and encounter more Unown. Piplup uses Whirlpool to snap the Unown out of their confusion while Chu and Lynn team up for a stronger Thunderbolt-Charge combo. 

Then, surprising the two teens was Team Rocket, who showed up falling down from the nearby stairs. 

Another group of Unown appear but they are stopped by Aipom's Double Hit, who then evolves into Ambipom making Dawn and Harmony gasp in shock and excitement. 

Then, she hits the Unown with Swift snapping them out of confusion. 

Finally seeing that Brock and the others showed up, and due to Unown's illusions each side sees each other as if they are walking on the ceiling making Harmony let out a small laugh.

Another group of Unown appear but they are snapped out of confusion by Piplup's Bubble Beam, breaking the illusion. 

As the illusion lifts off, it is revealed that Harmony, Dawn and Team Rocket are actually on the ceiling and subsequently they fall down on the floor. This made Ash’s eyes widen as he rushed to try and help Harmony, though he wasn’t quick enough as she fell on top of him letting out a groan of pain. Pikachu doing the same thing with Chu nuzzling her cheek as the two spark happily to one another clearly slightly distraught at being separated in such away.

Brock used Happiny to help with her massive strength catching the other just fine.

Suddenly the door to the outside opens and the group gets out and it looks as though nothing was wrong, to begin with.

Harmony turns to finally glare at Team Rocket calling them out as to why they were in there and for what purpose. However, the Team Rocket Trio decides to make a run for it before they can get into any more trouble while promising revenge against Team Galactic. 

At the name Team Galactic Harmony frowns, narrowing her eyes trying to think about what it all meant, and what it was they were planning.

Ash looks up Ambipom on his Pokédex as the Long Tail Pokémon practices her moves. ‘Ambipom, the Long Tail Pokémon. It uses its two tails to shell nuts, and then it links them together in a ring as a sign of friendship.’ 

Dawn is now even more confident that Ambipom can win her the Solaceon Contest Ribbon, though Harmony is still hesitant about it, but seeing Dawn so determined made her happy, she was hopefully out of her rut.

Ash again asks Kenny about their call-off battle. Kenny agrees to teach Turtwig Energy Ball, on the condition that Ash doesn't tell Dawn how scared he was, Ash agrees with the same terms about not mentioning it to Harmony either, after all, he didn’t want her to think he was a wimp even after saving her from falling, did he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took an extra week, I've been working on school assignments and been trying to balance out writing.


	25. Another Loss, Another Lesson Learned

Harmony grinned as they made it into the city looking around happily, “Ready for the contests Dawn?” she asks her friend.

“Yeah! I am going to win this time I just know it! With Ambipom I plan to win it all!” Dawn says excitedly. 

Ash and Kenny had been practicing with Turtwig in order to learn Energy Ball, while Dawn and Harmony practiced for the contest.

“Alright, Ambipom use swift!” Dawn calls out and Ambipom follows through in order to create a dazzling rainbow as a result. 

“That’s so pretty!” Harmony says in awe as she watches Dawn rush up to Ambipom and give her a poffin along with the rest of her Pokemon.

“I’ll tell you rainbow swift was great,” Brock points out with a nod of his head.

“You sure gave it your all didn’t you?” Dawn asks Ambipom, “I’ve been thinking, we didn’t do very well at the Herathome contest because we got way too involved in double performances, but this time it’s just Ambipom and me and we’re going to show one move as much as we can!” 

“I mean that could work...but you also need to highlight other things too Dawn,” Harmony says a bit worried Dawn would do something too drastic and showing off. 

“There’s nothing to worry about Harmony, Ambipom and I are in sync and are totally going to win this! Just you wait!” she says enthusiastically, “So what do you say we take it from the top!?”

___________

"Thrones of fans have lined up in droves stretching down the street as far as the eye can see, in numbers too massive to even try and count! They’re all here to witness today’s exciting Solaceon Town Pokemon Contest!” Marian calls out, “And needless to say we’re coming to you from beautiful Solaceon Town and we’re live!”

Harmony bounces her leg a bit as Alice, her Ampharos cooed at her side nuzzling her to calm her nerves, “Thanks Alice, guess I’m a bit anxious we could be getting another ribbon today and that’d make our three be four,” she whispers rubbing the gem on Alice’s head. 

“The winner of today’s contest receives this,” Marian says holding up a ribbon, “The Solaceon Ribbon. Our Coordinators are vying to win one of five total ribbons and ear a spot in the Grand Festival!”

“And this wins mine DeeDee,” Kenny calls out to Dawn who shakes her head.

“I don’t think so, cause the win is mine!” she says determinedly.

“Not if Alice and I have a say in it,” Harmony points out with Alice chattering up a bit. 

“Alright then, and now it’s time for a word from our judges!” Marian calls out as the judges make out their words of encouragement.

“Now without further delay the performance round! And here’s contestant number one!” Marian calls out as Kenny races on stage.

He has his Breloom begin with a Stun Spore to show off its sheen. Breloom uses Energy Ball, and after using its tail to send the Energy Ball to the ceiling, Breloom uses Mach Punch on the Energy Ball, making the whole stage and Breloom shine. 

The crowd is enraptured, and the Contest Judges pass their compliments on.

“That was really good,” Harmony says from backstage, Alice was back in her Pokeball, a seal of purple smoke stuck on it. “I’ll see you after Dawn, my turn,” she says squeezing the younger girl's arm as she rushed off. 

“Alright, Alice! Time to shine!” she calls out tossing out the Pokeball grinning as she appears in the purple smoke sparkling as her own shiny coat shines with it. “Start it off with Dragon Pulse into the air followed by a Charge Beam!” she calls out Alice swiftly pulling it off, the Dragon Pulse exploding into little purple flames into the air.

“That’s it, Alice! Great job, now let’s use those flames to power up our Fire Punch, make it sparkle!” she calls out as Alice manages to charge up her punch while collecting the falling flames before they burn out causing her fist to turn from a red, orange, and yellow to a more purple and blue flame grinning.

Getting feedback from the judges was great as ever them enthralled by Alice’s performance as she stood proudly by her trainer’s side, her head gem glowing a bit with each praise. “You did amazing sweetie,” Harmony whispers as they headed backstage. “I’m so proud that was a great feat.

“Wow Harmony that was incredible!” Dawn says in awe, “You really are great at this…”

“And don’t you dare get nervous or anxious now Dawn, it’s still the first round, you’ll do fine.” Harmony says moving to squeeze Dawn’s hands, “Just do your best, that’s all you can do, and hope that your efforts make it happen,” she tells her friend who nods.

Jessalina was up next and sends Dustox out from her Pokeball and she flies around showing off her shining scales. 

Dustox whips up a Whirlwind, and the audience is astounded to see Jessie lifted off the ground. Jessie then finishes the performance by having Dustox use Psybeam, which causes a plume of green smoke. Jessie and Dustox emerge waving to the crowd, earning compliments from the judges for being so in sync with each other. 

Next was Dawn, who of course, calls Ambipom to the stage with a Party Seal welcomes followed by a Double Hit, sending shockwaves throughout the Contest Hall. She then has Ambipom begin her rainbow Swift routine. Dawn orders Ambipom to go faster, and the whole stage is covered in Swift stars. 

Harmony watched from behind the stage and bites her lip, “She’s overdoing it…” she whispers as Kenny glances at her.

“Huh?” Kenny says confused, “I think it’s incredible…”

“She’s overdoing it, Kenny, it may look really pretty and beautiful, but I can’t see Ambipom at all, she’s getting lost in the dazzle bit thinking more is better when it’s not…” she admits as Alice lets out a sad coo. “Yeah, it’s about you guys looking amazing, but if you overdo it and lose that so does the audience and the judges.” 

When Dawn came back Harmony smiled a bit, “That looked amazing Dawn...but don’t you think you may have overdone it a tad bit?” she says softly moving to pat Ambipom’s head as Alice and her chatted happily.

“Surprised huh?” Dawn points out as Kenny complimented her as well a bit of a frown forming, “I don’t think we overdid it Harmony, I think it was fine the way it was,”

“Okay…” Harmony says softly only to gasp as Ash rushed in practically grabbing her into a hug.

“That was incredible! You showed off Alice’s power so much in such a way that worked so well!” he says rather enthusiastically. “I liked how you took the flames that exploded from the Dragon Pulse and used it to power up the Fire Punch! Dawn, you were great too!” he says as he finally let go of Harmony, though kept close their arms practically brushing against each other.

“Aww, thanks, Ash!” Dawn says as Piplup moves to jump into Dawn’s arms excitedly. “Piplup that’s sweet, so wasn’t Ambipom amazing?” she brags. 

“Sorry for the delay! But we have a decision! The coordinators that have made it past the first stage!” Marian calls out from the screen everyone glancing up at it with a bit of worry and determination. “And now here are the official results, the eight coordinators moving on to the second stage! And they’re on screen!” 

As the names and pictures were revealed, Harmony’s came first up on the list with Kenny not far behind her and Jessalina had made it in, but when it came to the final name and picture, it, unfortunately, wasn’t Dawn.

“I’m sorry Dawn,” Harmony says softly.

“What happened?” Dawn says disappointment really lacing her voice. 

“Come on…” Kenny says clearly also disappointed that Dawn hadn’t made it.

As Harmony kept her eye on the screen seeing who she would be up against the side-eyed Dawn who looked ready to cry again after not making it past the first round, but somehow put up a fake smile, “Congratulations you two for making it on to the second round,” she says in a fake cheery voice.

“Thanks, Dawn,” Harmony says softly moving to squeeze her friend hand in slight worry.

“Uh Thanks, Dawn…” Kenny says a bit confused about her sudden happiness.

“Come on! Chin up! Don’t look so sad!” Dawn says though Harmony was hesitant that she was even taking her own advice in that.

“But Dawn?” Ash asks confused about the quick turnaround of her attitude.

“We’re sorry you lost,” Brock tells her.

“No need to worry, you know that. I just had a less than great day out there and that’s all. Come on Kenny, Harmony! You two got to get ready for the second round!” Dawn says practically pushing the two coordinators out of the room.

“Okay okay I hear ya!” Kenny says shaking his head but smiling, “Root for me!” he says.’

“Now wait a second they’re rooting for me too in case you forgot,” Harmony points out with a grin on her face. “And I’m determined to win!” 

____________

Both Kenny and Harmony make it through to the final, and it's Lynn the Luxio, versus Prinplup. Lynn avoids a Drill Peck and hits Prinplup with a Wild Charge hitting Prinplup straight on. This goes on for quite a few turns almost as if the two are evenly matched, though Lynn has the slight head on Prinplup. 

Everyone backstage is rooting for Harmony apart from Dawn, who is now feeling very sorry for herself. 

The battle is hard-fought, leading to the time running out and as Lynn is left with the most points, Harmony is declared the winner. Grinning as she takes the stand with her newly acquired fourth ribbon Harmony beams as she, with Lynn and Alice by her side do a small pose winking at the camera. 

“That’s number four you two, just one more to go!” Harmony says in excitement to her partners who cheer in excitement rushing backstage with her. 

_____________________

Later in the evening, they meet back up with Kenny who was changed and packed up, “You’re going already?” Ash says in a bit of disappointment.

“Gotta get ready for the next contest! And of course, you’re going to be there too right DeeDee?” he says directing it at Dawn who was lagging behind a bit looking quite sad.

“I don’t think so…” Dawn says in a soft small voice. “Not the next one…I guess” she says softly her motivation rather gone after another loss.

“Look DeeDee let’s get one thing straight, there’s no way I’m going to let you quit contests at least until I have a chance to beat you understand?” Kenny states clearly upset that she was thinking of quitting.

“Okay! No need to worry! I’ll be there,” Dawn says holding her hands up in surrender. 

“See ya,” Kenny says nodding at everyone as he turns to leave.

“Take care of yourself,” Harmony calls out to him. 

“Keep up on that Energy Ball okay Ash?” Kenny calls out.

“You bet, we’ll finish our battle next time!” Ash calls out.

“All you think about is battling Ash, can’t we just have a nice day hanging out with Kenny rather than thinking about battling him?” Harmony points out with a shake of her head. 

“Okay...well….no...I...maybe? I just want that battle!” Ash says with a pout on his lips making her shake her head trying to not laugh.

_________

Harmony heard Dawn’s crying through the night and the next morning was rather worried, Chu nuzzling close to Pikachu as he tried calming her nerves down. “You two are too cute, but I’m worried about Dawn...she was crying last night I think it hit her pretty hard,” Harmony says softly to Brock and Ash. 

Piplup had come out but still without Dawn minutes later was making their entire group anxious. A part was missing from it and they could tell it was off.

“I saw the whole thing on TV!” the loud voice of Zoey calls out a bag being set next to Harmony as they glance up. 

“Zoey!” Harmony says, “Thank goodness, maybe she’ll listen to you more than me..she brushed off my assessment of it being too much when we were waiting for results...I don’t think she understands it all.”

Zoey shakes her head, “Of course you know the problem, I saw that too. Ambipom got lost in the swift...it was over the top…”

“And with that, the judges got overwhelmed.” Harmony finishes with a sigh. 

_______

Zoey finally managed to get Dawn out of bed and asks her for a battle, and to partner with Ambipom based on the previous day's appeal. 

As requested, Dawn orders a round of rainbow Swift. As Ambipom is covered with the stars, Zoey then points out where Dawn is going wrong; while the move is pretty and impressive, the flaw is that Ambipom can no longer be seen. She reiterates that an Appeal is meant to show off the Pokémon, like Kenny and Jessie did with theirs. 

Zoey then has Glameow use Iron Tail to smash through the Swift, then hits Ambipom with a Shock Wave knocking her back to Dawn.

Zoey reveals to Dawn that she passed on the Solaceon Contest to recharge and regain her focus after losing at Hearthome City. Dawn is relieved and takes on Zoey's advice, deciding to turn this defeat into a chance to learn.

___________

“Sometimes it is better to pass on contests, recharge and regroup to figure out a new thing to do,” Harmony says as they start their walk towards the direction of Veilstone City where the next Gym was and where Harmony and Ash hope to win another Gym badge.

“Yeah...you’ll help me practice though right?” Dawn asks Harmony.

“Always, you just have to ask and we’ll start up prepping. I just want you to think, how can you show off your Pokemon, either it be their moves, skills or just appearance without taking the eyes off of your Pokemon. Sure it’s nice to dazzle the air around you, but you need to draw that attention back towards your Pokemon.” She explains to Dawn who nods her head.

“Thanks, Harmony, I don’t know what I’d do without you and Zoey to point this out,” she says softly.

“Think nothing of it, I’ve been doing this for two years Dawn, even I mess up. It took me five different contests when I first started out to win my first ribbon. I wish I had a mentor like person to help me out. It may be a competition but at the same time it’s no fun if everyone else doesn’t do well.”


	26. Almost To The Gym

Brock, with his guidebook in hand, excitedly leads Ash, Dawn, and Harmony to the Mountain Hut Maid Café.

There, they meet the three maids, Autumn, Spring, and Summer. Brock immediately goes for Spring and Summer but is quickly stopped by Croagunk.

After recovering, Spring, Autumn, and Summer take the group of teens to the barn for Miltank Moomoo Milk at their request. Once there, Spring's two Miltank and Summer's Miltank happily run into the barn, hooking themselves up to give the group of teens a nice round of milk. Everyone sends out their Pokémon to enjoy it as well.

Brock then asks about Autumn's Miltank, she says her Miltank, nicknamed Ilta, is outside and doesn't listen to her since she just got her. She also claimed that she was thinking about releasing her since she 'isn't that cute anyway'.

Brock jumps in, saying that Autumn shouldn't just give up on her Miltank. Spring then compliments Brock's knowledge, causing Brock to proclaim his dream of becoming a great Pokémon Breeder. He also claims that he can help Autumn with any problems she may have with her Miltank, becoming quite flirtatious with Spring.

Predictably, Croagunk Poison Jabs him once again. Summer then calls her sisters back to the café, saying it's becoming full. Spring tells Autumn to stay with Brock while Dawn, Ash, Harmony and their Pokémon don maid outfits and decide to help Spring and Summer serve customers. Harmony sneakily using her Rotophone to snag a few pictures of everyone in their maid outfits earning cries of ‘delete it!’ from Ash.

Brock was helping Autumn with her issues while the three teens worked. It was later that Harmony, Ash and Dawn, spotted Team Rocket, who had caught Brock and Autumn, caught up.

Ash sends out Turtwig, commanding it to use Energy Ball, but Energy Ball hasn't been perfected yet.

Harmony tosses out Lyn her Luxio and was just about to call out Charge Beam along with Dawn who was trying to help, but Brock decides that he and Autumn should Tag Battle to strengthen the bond between them and their Pokémon.

Seviper approaches with a Poison Tail, only to be Pounded away by Happiny.

Ilita Tackles Carnivine out the way. Happiny goes onto throw Seviper directly into the rest of Team Rocket followed by a Pound attack. Ilita then uses Rollout to send Team Rocket blasting off.

Back at the barn, Ilta happily straps herself into the milking machine to give Autumn some milk. Autumn thanks Brock, however, he is preoccupied with her sisters, and Croagunk promptly drags him away.

Finally, Ash and friends say goodbye to the Maid Café, with some last reassuring words from Brock to Autumn.

The sisters tell them to come back any time, and Brock prepares to rush back immediately, though Harmony, Ash, and Dawn drag him off. Autumn looks on lovingly at Brock as the group of teens walk off down the road and towards Veilstone City for Ash's next Gym match.

_______________

As Ash, Harmony, Brock and Dawn continue to travel, Ash is still hard at work training his Turtwig in using Energy Ball.

Turtwig charges the sphere and proceeds to launch it, but the sphere dissipates beforehand. Turtwig is upset, but Ash encourages it to try again.

Brock asks for him to hold off until they reach the next town, in order to get there before dark. Ash recalls Turtwig and looks forward to a hot bath at the next Pokémon Center, but Brock checks his guidebook and finds no Center in the next town.

Dawn suggests that they go to a hot spring that she knows about, one that allows Pokémon to enjoy it as well. She mentions that one of her best friends lives at a hot spring hotel, so they start heading that way.

Outside the hotel, a girl talks to her Swinub in helping her out. Dawn calls out her name, Leona, Dawn's childhood friend.

Leona happens to call her Dee-Dee, which upsets Dawn, but Leona is still happy to see her. When asked about how business is going, Leona admits that it has been sluggish.

Dawn introduces Leona to Ash, Brock, and Harmony mentioning that she met Dawn in Kindergarten.

Leona remembers watching Dawn and Harmony’s most recent Contest performance, congratulating Harmony on her win, which slightly upsets Dawn.

Hearing that Leona is a Trainer as well, Ash and Harmony argue about who can ask her for a battle, but Leona doesn't have the time to battle either of them and gives them a sheepish look at that.

Quick to change the topic Dawn admits that she is eager to jump in the hot spring, but before Leona can say anything, they're off.

They find the hot spring, with Ash and Harmony racing on who would jump in first, but they find the pool shallow and cold, disappointing the both of them.

Leona mentions that the spring is not running because a week ago, the spring suddenly stopped receiving water. Since the spring is fed from a pipeline leading down from the mountain, Leona's parents decided to hike up and inspect it.

Leona admits that if the situation doesn't change soon, the hotel will have to close. Leona is planning to use her Swinub to find another hot spring, which Dawn checks with her Pokédex.

The Swinub even knows how to use Dig. Lost in thought for a bit Dawn comes up with a plan for them to work together to find the hot spring. Leona's Swinub takes the lead as they hike up the scent of a hot spring.

At a newer hot spring, a disguised Team Rocket takes pride in their work, wanting to open their business, as well as plans to let Giovanni have it. The second that Leona's Swinub leads the group of teens to a source of steam had Harmony narrowing her eyes at the disguised Team Rocket and went to point it out, only to be interpreted as usual.

When they get there, they notice that a new hotel is being built with a freshly dug hot spring. Team Rocket notices them nearby as Meowth puts sunglasses on and proceeds to push them off the property.

Leona confronts them about the hotel. Meowth tells a story about them digging out the hot spring by hand.

Leona can tell that the water is exactly the same as their hot spring water, just by sense. She believes that they have been diverting her hot spring water to use as their own.

The poorly disguised Jessie asks her for proof of possession of the water, which Leona knows will be difficult.

Brock theorizes that if they tapped into the same water source that Leona's family does, but with a different pipe, it would not matter. It appears that Team Rocket has won, when suddenly a Wooper appears from the pipe, with a transponder on its tail.

Ash and Harmony are quick to check the Wooper with a sense of urgency, as Leona recognizes it as one that belongs to her parents.

Leona's parents show up as they mention that when they checked their pipeline, they found another pipe attached directly to theirs, diverting water away from their hot spring.

They sent the Wooper along the line to see where it led, revealing that the hot spring had been stolen.

Team Rocket loses their disguises and recites their motto making Harmony cry out that she was trying to tell them earlier much to her annoyance.

Meowth pushes a switch and summons a mecha, firing water blasts at Ash and Harmony. Chu and Pikachu want to launch a Thunderbolt, but since everyone is soaking wet, Chu and Pikachu are forced to switch to do a double Iron Tail. However, Pikachu slips on the wet mecha, unable to make contact while Chu misses in order to try and help her mate.

Dawn getting an idea yells out for Leona to have her Swinub dig and cause the three-legged mecha to tumble and spill its water all over itself, heating it up.

Dawn's Buneary then uses Ice Beam to quickly chill it, causing it to crack. The mecha tumbles backwards into Team Rocket and explodes, sending them blasting off. Dawn and Leona celebrate as Leona's parents insist that they stay for the spring, working to fix it.

Back at the hotel, Leona offers a Tag Battle, Ash and Harmony against Dawn and Leona. Ash's Chimchar and Harmony’s Luxio, Lynn square off against Leona's Swinub and Dawn's Piplup.

Swinub tries to Tackle Lynn the Luxio, but she dodges.

Piplup tries to Peck Chimchar, but it Scratches Piplup down.

Dawn and Leona team up as they switch targets, Swinub's Ice Shard against Chimchar with Piplup's Bubble Beam against Lynn. Both dodge as Chimchar launches Flamethrower, both dodging.

Chimchar tries Flame Wheel on Swinub, but Piplup takes the lead.

It appears that Chimchar hit, but neither target is to be seen. That's because Swinub dug underground, taking Piplup with it, springing up to hit Chimchar.

Piplup hits with Whirlpool, soaking Chimchar. Ash and Harmony feel the pressure as Dawn and Leona use the tactics that allowed them to take care of the bully.

Piplup fires Bubble Beam at Chimchar, hitting, as Swinub launches Blizzard. Lynn hits Swinub with Charge Beam, allowing for the Blizzard to miss Chimchar.

Lynn proceeds to use Fire Fang practically eating some of the Blizzard that Swinub launches, but not all making it so that both sides get hit.

The end result shocks all as all four Pokémon have been frozen, resulting in a tie. They decide to end the day with the hot spring.

With the hot spring repaired, the group of teens as well as the Pokemon enjoy the hot spring.

The Pokemon played and rested, Chimchar sitting with its tail above water, along with Cinders the Cinderace who was tossing hot stones up in the air, landing into the water with a hiss. While Sudowoodo sits near the steam without soaking its body. Buizel punches a flowing water stream along with Pip the Prinplup.

Leona praises Ash and Harmony and Ash decides to ask Leona about why Dawn is called Dee-Dee, but before she can respond, Dawn pushes her down, keeping the secret locked up.

The next day, the group of teens leave the hot spring and wave to Leona and her parents goodbye, and what Harmony could notice was Dawn carrying herself a bit more happily, seemingly like her confidence was restored.

____________

Still on route to Veilstone City, the group has stopped in another city on the way to enjoy a picnic.

Ash and Turtwig are still trying to master Energy Ball, which still faces accuracy issues. The training and picnic are put on hold when several shadows fly overhead.

Looking up, the gang see several Gligar being led by a larger Pokémon, which suddenly start swooping. The group flee and the attackers steal the picnic food.

Ash has Turtwig try an Energy Ball against the leader, but once again it misses its target. Ash attempts a Razor Leaf, though the Gligar swiftly evades.

For safety, all of the Pokémon apart from Turtwig, Piplup, Chu and Pikachu are recalled into their Poké Balls.

Ash was quick to make sure everyone was okay, though his main concern seemed to be on Harmony, and Brock identifies the Pokémon as Gligar and the larger one as Gliscor.

Harmony looks up Gligar in her Pokédex, and then Ash looks up Gliscor in his, which identifies Gliscor as Gligar's evolved form.

Just then, an Ice Beam shoots towards Gliscor, which sends it flying.

Everyone looks across and sees that it came from Paul and his Weavile. Paul then sends out his Murkrow which sends all of the Gligar fleeing. A few attempt to attack Murkrow but it easily dodges.

A strong wind starts, and Gliscor orders the group of Gligar to leave. However, while almost all leave, a single Gligar is too busy eating an apple to notice.

After quickly scoffing down the apple and making a face at the gang, it tries to take off but the attempt is misjudged and it falls onto Ash. After getting up, it finds itself surrounded by the angry stares of Pikachu, Chu, Piplup and Turtwig. It quickly leaves to rejoin its group.

Paul recalls his Pokémon, and mentions that Gliscor lives up to its reputation. Ash asks Paul if he's there to catch the Gliscor, but Paul is apathetic as usual and tells the others to keep out of his way before he walks off.

Just then Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy arrive. It turns out that this isn't the first time people's food has been stolen, and Croagunk intercepts Brock's declaration of love.

At the local Pokémon Center, which has a beautiful garden on the roof filled with Bug-type and Flying-type Pokémon, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy tell the gang that the Gliscor and Gligar have reduced the city into a ghost town.

After stripping the city bare of its growing fruit and vegetables, they're now stealing the food out of people's hands.

This leaves Harmony and Brock confused, as Gliscor and Gligar are known for living in the forest, not in the city.

It was explained to the group of teens that one night, a very powerful storm blew Gliscor into the city. The same winds, caused by the numerous skyscrapers in the city, prevented Gliscor leaving and as a result Gliscor started to attract the Gligar from neighboring areas with sound waves magnified by the buildings.

Though numerous attempts to capture the Pokémon have failed, Officer Jenny has a new plan which involves using Gligar's favorite fruit as bait. The group of teens all pledge their support along with their Pokemon.

Officer Jenny drives the truck in an attempt to lure the Pokemon into a strong wind current, which should blow them out of the city and return them to the forest.

However, the plan is ruined when Gliscor and the Gligar are captured by Team Rocket in their balloon. Jessie, James and Meowth perform their motto and begin their getaway.

Unfortunately Team Rocket's boasts are holding true, with Pikachu and Chu's Thunderbolt, Piplup's Bubble Beam and Gliscor's X-Scissor prove useless against the strong container.

It turns out that while the container is almost indestructible, the rope holding it isn't as the Gligar, which Ash recognized from earlier, cuts the rope which causes the container to fall onto the remains of the building. The container is destroyed, and Gligar is sent flying.

Ash runs to save it, and Gligar ends up landing on him just like earlier.

Meanwhile, Gliscor and the other Gligar obviously aren't too happy about the attempted capture and all use X-Scissor on the balloon, which causes the balloon to crash and Team Rocket are sent blasting off again.

The balloon also crashes onto the building remains, and the road is blocked by the debris. This causes the wind direction to change, and Gliscor and the Gligar help themselves to the fruit on the truck.

Gliscor and Gligar are soon wrecking havoc on the city, and with the road blocked the same plan cannot be reattempted. Just then the gang have an idea; if they can't send Gliscor and the Gligar into a wind current, then they will produce one using a Gust from the Pokémon at the Center. Ash decides to talk to Gliscor to let it know they just want to help.

In an alley, Team Rocket is consoling themselves with some food when they notice Gliscor and the Gligar have arrived. They are quickly on the run, when suddenly an Ice Beam hits, and Team Rocket are sent blasting off for the second time.

The attacker is revealed to be Paul's Weavile, who uses another Ice Beam and freezes all the Gligar solid. As Paul orders a Blizzard, Gliscor responds with a Sandstorm, stopping the attack and melting the ice while the numerous Pokémon make a getaway.

However, the Gligar Ash saved is once again left behind, and is greeted by Ash and his friends. It pulls its now trademark strange face, but then starts to follow its group, and is itself followed by the gang.

In a nearby alley, Paul confronts Gliscor and sends out Electabuzz to partner Weavile. He orders an Ice Beam/Thunder combo, but there are so many Gligar flying about that neither can target. Paul yells at his Pokémon to focus, and orders a Thunder Punch from Electabuzz which hits several Gligar. Gliscor isn't happy about seeing its group attacked and uses X-Scissor on Electabuzz, which sends the Electric-type flying into Weavile and Paul.

Ash, Harmony, Brock and Dawn arrive along with the Gligar they've now befriended. Ash tells Gliscor they can help it return to the wild, but before it can answer it is hit by Paul's Ice Beam/Thunder combo, sending it crashing to the ground. Paul then throws a Poké Ball, and successfully catches the Gliscor.

As usual, Paul scans Gliscor with his Pokédex and sees that it is quite strong and decides to keep it. Ash asks Paul about all the Gligar it was leading, but Paul doesn't care.

The Gligar is known to Ash and the group makes a run at Paul, but Electabuzz hits it with a Thunder Punch, sending it flying. Recalling his Pokémon to their Poké Balls, Paul criticizes the gang and leaves.

All of the Gligar are now flying around the alley aimlessly, not knowing what to do without Gliscor gone. Deciding to go with the plan anyway, Ash, Harmony and Dawn start to lure the Gligar to the Pokémon Center.

A few are hesitant about going, but the one Ash made friends with seemed to let the others know it is okay and soon all the Gligar are on their way.

Once there, all the Pokémon at the Center use Gust to send the Gligar flying out of the city and the plan is working perfectly.

However, Team Rocket shows up, making a second attempt to catch the Gligar. Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, but Team Rocket are so far away that Thunderbolt doesn't reach.

Ash decides to try Turtwig and Energy Ball again. Turtwig sends out the Energy Ball, but when it reaches the balloon's distance once again the direction isn't there and it misses. With Team Rocket closing in, Ash tells Turtwig to really concentrate.

Turtwig responds, and fires the Energy Ball which hits Team Rocket dead on. The balloon explodes and it's third time unlucky for Team Rocket who are sent blasting off again.

Ash congratulates Turtwig on finally perfecting the attack, when they notice that the slow Gligar is once again too busy eating to notice where its group is.

Turtwig fires another Energy Ball at it, sending it into the air. Then all the Center's Pokémon use Gust, finally sending the Gligar out of the city and back to their natural habitat.

Just when the gang think the Gligar problem is gone, the slow Gligar is seen flying back to the Center, and once again it's flying is not up to scratch and lands on Ash who asks why it didn't join its friends.

Pulling its face, Harmony tells Ash that Gligar must want to join him, giving him a grin as Ash’s eyes seem to light up at that idea. Ash asks before he happily throws a Poké Ball and catches Gligar.

__________

Ash, Dawn, Harmony, and Brock are walking through a desert on the way to Ash and Harmony's next Gym battle in Veilstone City.

Ash alongside Harmony happily jump down a hill and release their Pokémon so they can play in the sand. Dawn and Brock both join them and let out their Pokémon as well.

As they are playing, the sand rumbles up and a Hippowdon emerges from under the ground and lifts Pachirisu up on his back.

Dawn looks him up on her Pokédex as Pachirisu climbs up to Hippowdon's head, and then Hippowdon yawns and Pachirisu falls into his mouth. Hippowdon then Digs back underground with Pachirisu still inside his mouth.

As the teens quickly run after, they end up being too late and the Hippowdon is gone. Ash and Brock try digging in the sand but Pikachu and Chu point out a huge cloud of sand in the distance.

Pikachu, Chu, and Piplup run towards the big cloud of sand while the teens recall their Pokémon into their Poké Balls.

Pachirisu appears out of one of Hippowdon's holes on his left side and is happy to see Pikachu, Chu, and Piplup. Dawn quickly commands Pachirisu to get out of the hole. Pachirisu tries to wiggle free, but it finds out it's stuck and Hippowdon again digs underground, taking Pachirisu with it.

While still looking, the teens finally catch up with the Hippowdon where Dawn commands Pachirisu to use Discharge but nothing happens, while Ash commands Pikachu to use Thunderbolt and again nothing happens.

At the two other teens doing this Harmony lets out a solid groan with Chu shaking her head as she watches her mate doing something as silly as that. Hearing Harmony’s groan, Brock explains that Hippowdon is a Ground-type Pokémon, so Electric-type moves won't have any effect.

Hippowdon once again digs underground, taking Pachirisu with him once again.

The group of teens try to find Hippowdon, but instead, Hippopotas appears from under the ground, and is very friendly.

Ash realizes he might have been the Hippopotas they saved to which Harmony pouts having missed it, but also grinning at how Ash and the Hippopotas were close.

Hippowdon then emerges from the ground and Hippopotas happily walks towards him. Pachirisu appears from Hippowdon's nose this time, and Hippowdon attempts to blow Pachirisu from his nose. This action just seems to anger him and he escapes underground once more.

The group of teens and Hippopotas run towards Hippowdon and Hippopotas becomes really sad. Hippopotas really misses Hippowdon, so Ash lifts Hippopotas onto his shoulders and vows to reunite him with his old friend.

Meanwhile, we see Team Rocket in a tree with binoculars searching for Hippowdon. They spot him and James takes out an RPG and fires a net at Hippowdon, capturing him. Team Rocket tries to steal Hippowdon but is unable to because he's too heavy.

The group of teens catch Team Rocket in the act. Suddenly a Rhyhorn robot appears from underground with a big Team Rocket "R" symbol on it.

Out of the robot, Butch and Cassidy jump out and do their motto with a Shuckle.

Jessie, James, Butch and Cassidy quickly begin insulting one another. Butch's and Dr. Namba's names keep getting mispronounced. Butch and Cassidy say they are there on orders from Dr. Namba to capture Hippowdon so he may analyze the sand.

As the four Team Rocket members keep arguing, Harmony gets fed up with it and goes to yell only for Ash to stop her, wanting to have Turtwig use Razor Leaf to cut the net and they free Hippowdon.

While Hippowdon escapes underground again as Butch, Cassidy, the group of teens quickly go after him--Butch and Cassidy in their robot and Ash and his friends on foot.

The teens hear Hippowdon but he's also being followed by Butch and Cassidy in their giant robot. A claw reaches out of the robot towards Hippowdon but Ash commands Pikachu to use Thunderbolt to stop the claw.

Once more, but with more Pika power thanks to Chu, Ash commands Pikachu, Harmony commands Chu to use Thunderbolt and it hits the robot, but it has no effect.

The teens and Hippowdon quickly run from the robot but suddenly fall into a very big hole in the sand.

Jessie, James and Meowth are above them in their balloon and they do their motto. Jessie and James fire some sort of a plunger on a rope that captures Hippowdon and starts pulling him up into the air, but the teens grab onto it.

Butch and Cassidy see this and fires a horn from the robot into the balloon and it pierces right through it, sending Jessie, James, Meowth, Ash, Dawn, Harmony, Brock, and Hippowdon falling to the ground.

Butch and Cassidy yet again try to use a big claw from their robot to grab a hold of Hippowdon but Jessie, James and Meowth appear in a big Slowbro robot and break the claw.

The two Team Rocket groups quickly begin to battle with their robots and argue once again.

As this is going on, the teens start running away with Hippowdon again. Jessie and James see this and fires Slowbro's tail as a rocket into Butch and Cassidy's robot, but it has no effect.

Butch and Cassidy then again fire a horn rocket into the Slowbro robot and it drills though the robot and it explodes.

The blast sends the group of teens, and Hippowdon flying into the air, and as Hippowdon falls onto the ground, Pachirisu falls out of his mouth and is reunited with Dawn and Piplup. Hippowdon is angered and fires a Hyper Beam at the Rhyhorn robot, making it completely fall apart.

After Butch, Cassidy, Jessie, James and Meowth recover, Cassidy sends out Granbull and Butch sends out Shuckle. Jessie sends out Seviper and it attacks Granbull right away. James sends out Carnivine. Cassidy commands Granbull to use Fire Fang but Jessie commands her Seviper to Wrap itself around Granbull, thus stopping its attack.

Cassidy then commands Granbull to use Bite and Jessie commands the same attack with her Seviper and both attacks hit. James commands Carnivine to use Bullet Seed on Shuckle and it hits as well. Butch commands Shuckle to use Sludge Bomb but Carnivine ends up dodging and it hits Hippowdon.

Ash and Harmony see this, nodding to one another before they commands Pikachu and Chu to use Thunderbolt and it hits Shuckle. Dawn commands Piplup to use Bubble Beam and it hits Carnivine. Hippowdon is now angered and it charges at Team Rocket hitting Shuckle and Carnivine with Double-Edge sending both Pokémon at their respectful owners.

Hippopotas then uses Yawn which makes Team Rocket, Butch, Cassidy, and their Pokémon fall asleep. It then follows it up by using Sandstorm which blows all Team Rocket members and their Pokémon into a group next to each other, while Hippowdon uses a Hyper Beam and makes them blast off.

Hippowdon and Hippopotas are finally reunited and Ash, Dawn, Harmony and Brock are very happy for them as the two play.

_________

A/N: I really have no idea when I'll be able to upload next. My muse kinda dropped for this, and picked back up into the Hamilton Fandom which is what I'm having a lot of fun doing

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it reads okay, leave feedback, please!


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